Infectious
by Angels of Twilight
Summary: Edward is alone and now he has to watch as Jenna, the newest Cullen, finds love in a human. A call from the Volturi sends them all to Italy as a strange illness infects the vampire world. Can they figure out what's going on before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1: High School Never Ends_

**EPOV**

"Oh, my God! This is crazy! I am _sick_ and _tired_ of going to freaking high school! I _know it all_ already!" Emmett yelled as we walked into Forks High School for our senior year. All of the freshman gaped at him before running in the opposite direction, some of them intimately meeting the tiled floor with their faces. It didn't stop them from getting up and running again, though.

We had managed to get into the school as sophomores after explaining that we really were only fifteen. Just more mature for our age. The secretary kept glancing skeptically at Emmett until we told him he was really big as a baby. She nodded her head and got that Oh-okay-now-I-understand look and gave us our schedules.

Jenna was happy. After all she had been through with her change five years ago, she made friends really easily and never seemed to make an enemy. She was very quick to adopt our ways, and her control was incredibly strong. We only had to restrain her once, the day she woke up from her change, but it seemed like that was the shock her system needed to keep her from going after anyone else. We would have known if she did.

"Jen! Jenna!"

All of us turned around to see Jenna's friend Adrian running up to us. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but walked right up to her. Jenna had had her arm through mine, but removed it to embrace her friend. She had met him when we had first come here, and they had been inseparable ever since. They started talking and I told Jenna we'd see her later and kept walking. She waved quickly before turning back to him.

Our first class was on the other side of the school but we weren't in a hurry. All of us had the same first class except Jenna. We tried to change it, but the class was full. She didn't mind since it was English and she had it with Adrian. It's the same class we had, but she had a different teacher. We managed to get everything else together, though.

We walked past the main office and felt the stares from the staff. I was trying not to laugh at the thoughts, mostly consisted of "Too young, _too young_!" but I quickly sobered up when I looked at the rest of my family. Each of them was wrapped around their husband or wife, smiling at each other without a care in the world. I sighed and walked ahead, my mood greatly dampened and falling even more when I turned the corner.

All eyes seemed to turn in our direction and stay there, slowly growing bigger and bigger. You could tell who was a new kid and who was a freshman because their jaws dropped, as well. Rose seemed to be enjoying the attention when I glanced back, and Alice was paying no mind. Jasper was a little uncomfortable and Emmett was just staring at Rose.

We made it to English and took the five seats at the very back of the room, each of them with their significant other on one side. No one else was in the room, so right before the bell rang, people began coming in, and the stares started all over again.

The teacher walked in and stopped in his tracks as he scanned the back of the room. His eyes stopped on me and I lifted an eyebrow at him. I had seen him around school, so he knew the pairings of our family. His thoughts verified as much.

_Still no girl for him, huh? Must be depressing to live in a house full of couples. I have to give him credit for being able to stay there surrounded by that_, he thought. I looked out the window, instantly liking this teacher a little more. I asked myself the same question every day, but I never could think of a sufficient answer.

The teacher introduced himself as Mr. Meyers and took attendance, his eyes staring at me with pity as he called my name after Alice's. He quickly went through the rest of the names and started the normal rambling about this being our senior year and how important it is. It may have been a hundred years since I first graduated High School, but the first day still hasn't changed.

We made it through the class, albeit awkwardly, and went to our next class, Drawing and Painting. It was the same as first period, and apparently it was still my turn to be stared at. The teacher, Ms. Marshall, told us she had just graduated from college and this was her first year teaching. Pretty much trying to tell me she wasn't too old for me.

Jenna sat at the same table as me, Emmett and Rose, and Alice and Jasper at their own tables. She quickly figured out what was going on when I made very disgusted faces and almost burst out laughing multiple times. My hand clamped down on the table leg and I tried not to crush it.

Lunch was the most interesting period of the day. And interesting doesn't always mean good. Every person in the cafeteria, including the staff, turned in our direction as we walked to our table. We sat down, Emmett and Jasper standing back up to get trays of food so it looked like some of us were eating, and I made sure to sit one seat apart from everyone. Alice was on my left, with one seat between us, and Emmett was on my right, two empty seats on that side. Jenna sat down next to me and bumped my shoulder with hers.

"So, how annoying was it to be a mind reader today?" she asked, teasing me. I was currently blocking the thoughts of one extremely slutty senior at the moment, so my face said it all. I felt another mind tugging at me, and cautiously allowed myself to hear it. I gave Jenna a tight smile.

"Your friend is looking for you. He's wondering if he could sit with you. Well, to be more precise, _us_," I whispered.

"Why haven't you asked him to sit with you before? You've been friends for a while now. It's okay," Alice said, bouncing in her excitement. Jenna's shoulders seemed to drop with relief and she ran to go find him. I mentally sighed, glad she was happy, but not exactly glad to be surrounded by it.

Jasper had confirmed that she has strong feelings for Adrian, and that he feels the same. Neither wanted to say anything in case the other didn't feel the same. And, of course, Jenna had mixed feelings about getting close to a human, knowing that we wouldn't be here forever. And she wouldn't age. All of these thoughts ran through her head whenever she and him weren't talking about something that would distract her.

She walked back over with Adrian in tow, one of his hands balancing his lunch while the other was caught in Jenna's grasp. She let go of his hand and sat down, but he remained standing, looking at each of us. His gaze moved to Alice and she smiled brightly at him, motioning for him to sit. He hesitated before sitting down stiffly. You could almost hear the collective gasp from the rest of the cafeteria as he sat down. No one had tried to sit with us in the two years that we had been here.

"Relax, kid. No one's going to hurt you!" Emmett boomed from next to him. I could see why he was so afraid now. I looked at Jasper and saw Adrian relax slightly out of the corner of my eye.

Jenna started rambling on about her classes with him, while he sat there, still not quite over his shock. He nodded and commented where needed, so she didn't seem to notice he wasn't fully there. You could tell there was something there. Alice asked Jenna something and Adrian turned to me.

"So…are all of you…you know…together?" he asked hesitantly. I nodded.

"Yes. All of us were adopted by Carlisle and Esme. None of us are related but Rose and Jasper. They're twins. Rose and Emmett are together, and so are Alice and Jasper." I pointed to each of them and he nodded. He kind of had to look around Emmett to see Rose but she did the same and waved at him.

"Oh, okay. So you are the only one alone?" I nodded tensely.

"I'm impressed. How'd you know?" I said, half sarcastically. I was trying to be nice, but being surrounded by relationships was grinding my patience. He thrust his thumb in Jenna's direction. All of us except for her and Alice did a collective "Oh" and he laughed, starting to loosen up a bit on his own.

"She's told me all about you," he said, looking away from me. I looked at Jenna and raised an eyebrow. She frowned and shook her head, letting me know Adrian didn't know anything he shouldn't.

"So, what about you? Have an interesting story you can share?" Emmett asked. We all looked at him, shocked. He raised his hands in the air, palms up.

"What? I'm bored!" Rose whacked him and Adrian laughed.

"No, it's okay. You told me about you guys, so it's only fair." Emmett let out a whispered "Yes! I like this kid already!" and he laughed again.

"Well, my mom died right after she gave birth to me, and my dad is never around. I might as well be an emancipated minor. He goes around to different women and will stop by to drop off money for food. He pays the bills, but I'm the only one that really lives in the house. Neither of my parents had any siblings, and my only living grandparent died last year. So, it's just me and him." He shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but there was no mistaking the tears trying to fill his eyes.

Alice got up and walked over to him, kneeling down next to him. He looked down at her and she took his hands, a single tear slipping down his face. She wiped it away before taking his hand again.

"Adrian, if you ever feel like you want to talk to someone about this, _please_ do not hesitate. Any of us would be happy to listen. You are not as alone as you think you are." He nodded and more tears made their way down his face. She pulled him to her and he gripped her shirt in his hands, trying not to cry. I saw Jenna smiling at her over his shoulder Alice and smiled back.

Adrian pulled away and composed himself, wiping his face with his hands. Jenna wiped the last one from his jaw and smiled at him, taking his hand in hers. Alice got up and walked back over to Jasper, who pulled her onto his lap.

"You did the right think, love. He was breaking down as he said it, but didn't want to look like a baby in front of us," he whispered in her ear.

She smiled and shook my head, turning to see Jenna running a hand through his spiky brown hair as she soothed him. He just kept nodding and looking down at his lap. I looked around at everyone to see them making the same realization as I was.

Sooner or later, Jenna was going to want to tell him.

**A/N: So, this is the new version of Infectious. For those of you who read Fate Brought Us Together, the Cullens will have the same powers I ended that story with. For those of you who haven't, I'll have to find a place in the next chapter to explain it . . . or you could read that story! :)**

**This story will not be updated regularly with new chapters not from the old version until Dreamer is completed, but I know this one was supposed to be written before that one, so I altered the chapters I had already written to fit the new circumstances. It'll give me a little head start . . . I'll just be posting this one for now, and I'll post the others once a week after that.**

**I know a lot of you wanted Infectious to be the sequel, but not many people seemed to be reading. Plus, the story could have stood on its own anyway, so it won't be much different except Edward and Bella are not yet together.**

**Hope it doesn't disappoint!**

_**Angels of Twilight**_


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: Your Call_

**EPOV**

The next few weeks went by smoothly. There were only a few girls that had to be fought off, which was an improvement from previous high school excursions. Jenna and Adrian just kept getting closer as the rest of us started to think of what we were going to do. We had talked it over with Carlisle already, and he didn't see a problem with changing him, under the circumstances he was currently living in. The only rule he made was that Adrian had to know about us and agree before he was changed.

Jenna was constantly thinking about it now. I could see her zoning out when she wasn't talking to him. The others kept dropping hints to him when he mentioned how cold Jenna was, or asked if we were going to eat anything. He would give us a confused look for a second, before going on to something else.

Today was Friday, and Jenna had invited Adrian over for the weekend, since his dad had stopped by the day before. He assured us that he wouldn't be back for another few weeks. I was waiting for them next to my Volvo and sighed as they made their way across the parking lot. I had to block their thoughts so I wouldn't scream at them to admit their feelings for each other already. I walked over to my side and opened the door, folding my seat so he could get in.

"Do you have everything you need, Adrian? We can stop by your house if you forgot anything," I asked. He shook his head shyly and got in, joining Jenna in the back seat. As soon as he started pitying me again for being alone, I tuned him out. I didn't need everyone reminding me of that specific fact.

Emmett and Rose were in the Jeep, and Alice and Jasper were in the Porsche. I followed them out and put one hand on the shifter, keeping the other on the wheel. We sped down the road, Jenna keeping Adrian's attention away from the ever-rising speedometer needle by talking continuously about nothing in particular. She still managed to keep his attention, though, which was good. I really didn't need him to have some kind of fear-induced breakdown in my backseat or anything.

"Carlisle just got a call from an old friend. I don't know what about, but Carlisle said it was important," I told Jenna. She and Adrian moved right behind me, Jenna pretending she could hear better if she was closer.

"If this weekend is a bad time, you can always just drop me off at my house. You haven't gone by it yet," Adrian said.

I looked at them in the rear-view mirror. The two of them were holding hands, acting like it was normal for friends to do that. Adrian blushed when he met my gaze, but they didn't let go.

"Well, Adrian, here's the thing. We actually had something to discuss with you and Jenna while you were at the house. And from what I'm seeing now, it couldn't be a more perfect time." He blushed even deeper.

"This isn't going to be some awkward 'birds and bees' talk, is it? Because if so, you don't have to go through it. The health teacher has said far more than I wanted to hear out loud already." I laughed softly and shook my head.

"No, it's not that. It's something about our family that you should know before this goes any farther than it has." I jerked my head at their now intertwined fingers.

"From the way you just said that, I'm guessing it's really important," Adrian said. I nodded sadly and he leaned back into the seat, Jenna leaning into his side. He put his arm around her and took her free hand with the other.

"But before we start that, I need to ask you something. Depending on your answer, I'll know whether or not you need to be involved in this secret." He looked at me in the mirror and nodded, determination in his eyes.

"Adrian, how much do you love Jenna?" He looked slightly taken aback, but he didn't back down. He looked down at their hands and then to Jenna's face, before returning his gaze to mine.

"I…I don't…know if I can put that into words. I mean, there's nothing I wouldn't do for her. The first day all of you showed up, I knew there was something about you. I couldn't tell exactly what, but there was no denying that there was something. There was something about Jenna, as well. I felt drawn to her, like by her side was where I needed to be. There was something so…so _right_ about being there, that I couldn't help but be there as much as I possibly could. At first it felt like there was something almost dangerous about you guys, but it didn't matter. I still feel that there's something I should be worried about, but it doesn't matter. Nothing would make me leave her."

His eyes had unfocused, but he blinked himself back to the present. I nodded and the rest of the ride was silent. When we reached the house, I stopped the car and all of us got out.

"I think you're ready. It might be a little much to handle at first, but please understand that you are in no danger," I said. He still looked confused.

"You guys aren't…like…assassins or something, are you?" I chuckled and shook my head.

"No, nothing like that." We walked up to the door just as Esme opened it, stepping back to let us in. She saw Adrian and smiled warmly, embracing him as he walked by.

"Oh, it's so good to finally meet you, dear. Everyone has said so much about the two of you." She pulled away, smiling slyly. He just smiled and blushed as Jenna took his hand, pulling him farther into the house.

We went into the living room, Adrian and Jenna sitting on the loveseat. I sat in the armchair next to them. He started playing with her fingers in his anticipation and she giggled. Emmet and Rose were sitting on the couch, Alice and Jasper next to them. Carlisle and Esme came in and took the other loveseat facing us. All of us just sat there, Adrian becoming more and more agitated as time went on. Finally, Carlisle cleared his throat and moved to the edge of the seat, resting his elbows on his knees and interlocking his fingers.

"So, Adrian, would you rather hear what we can do, or just hear what we are and hear the rest later?" he asked. Adrian seemed to only be confused anymore, and tilted his head to the side.

"Uh…Does it really matter? I mean, you're going to tell me everything either way, aren't you?" Carlisle nodded.

"Okay then. Well, to start, you may have noticed that our skin is colder than normal all the time. We never get older. And all of them seem to know everything that's being taught already. Like they've heard it before. And they don't have the same kind of beauty as other people. There's something inhuman about it." He paused and Adrian nodded slowly.

"All of this is true. It is also true that Jasper can control emotions, Alice can see the future, Emmett is amazingly strong, Rosalie is, and I apologize for my choice of words, a seductress, Esme is so caring no one can be angry at her, I have more control around humans, and Edward can read minds and is the fastest of us here. We have not figured out what power Jenna has, but she shares one all of us do. We can control the elements." Carlisle stopped again, waiting for Adrian to react.

He had to wait a while. Adrian just sat there, staring at Carlisle. He didn't move, except to breathe, and his hand went limp in Jenna's. Jenna turned her body so she was facing Adrian and waved her hand in front of his face. He jerked and blinked once, turning his head to face her. He kept blinking and took deep breaths. Jenna rubbed his arm soothingly.

"S- So…what…are you?" he asked, almost like he didn't want to know.

"We are vampires, Adrian." I said simply.

I watched, amazed as the color drained from his face. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head until they started rolling back. He slowly fell forward and Jenna and I caught him before he landed on the floor.

"Adrian. Adrian, wake up," I said, pushing him until he was leaning against the back of the couch. His eyes were partially open, and I could see them fighting to focus again. Jenna put one hand on his face and rubbed his cheek with her thumb.

"Come on, Adrian. Wake up for me." His eyes closed and he opened them slowly, unfocused, but he wasn't passed out anymore. He kept blinking and slowly focused on Jenna first, then me. He started shaking his head back and forth, searching my face for some sign of a joke. Some sign that I wasn't serious. He didn't find any, and sighed, defeated. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, then tensed and looked at me again.

"You…you said I wasn't…in any danger, right? This is what you meant, right?" he asked hesitantly. I nodded once.

"Yes, this is what I meant. We aren't going to hurt you. We just wanted you to know what you were getting yourself into by seeing Jenna." His eyes grew large and his mouth dropped open.

"But—But we're not—But—" I raised one eyebrow questioningly before pointing to my temple. Adrian sighed and glared at Jenna.

"You set me up just now, didn't you? You knew he would know any time he was around me." He smiled good-naturedly and Jenna laughed, nodding her head.

"Sorry, babe, but I couldn't resist. Alice said it would be funny," she said, trying to pass the buck to her. Adrian just chuckled and shook his head, taking Jenna's hand and kissing the back of it. Adrian sighed and ran his free hand through his hair.

"So…what happens now? Am I supposed to ask you things or something?"

"If you have questions, we would be happy to answer them. If you don't have any, then we'll just move on to what I have to tell everyone," Carlisle said. Adrian nodded, deep in thought.

"I'm guessing that, since you said I'm in no danger, you don't…_drink_ from humans. Am I right?"

"Yes. Each of us has formed a resistance to human blood. Some of us are stronger at resisting it than others, but you will not be harmed by anyone in this room. That, I will assure you. And to answer your next question, we drink from animals." Adrian nodded again before asking his next question.

"So…if none of you age, how old are each of you?" He asked, his eyes moving to each of us in turn.

"Well, to put it simply, all of us but Jenna are over two hundred. Jasper and I have been vampires the longest, but Edward and I made this coven. Everyone else joined in later." Adrian turned to Jenna.

"I've only been a vampire for fifty years, so I'm really sixty-five. I was changed when I was fifteen by a new-born who attempted to kill me. Edward found the vampire on me and killed it, but it had already bitten me. He had to bite me all over my body so the venom spread through me before I died." He let his head fall back onto the couch and sighed, closing his eyes.

"Okay…Is there anything else that I should know?" He asked. Jenna looked at me and I shrugged. I didn't need to read her mind to know she was asking permission to tell a certain detail she usually kept to herself about me.

"Well," she started slowly, "Edward is basically my dad." She finished quickly. "I've been attached to him ever since he saved me. He kept me safe when I needed it, and still does, just like an overprotective father. He is as much my dad as my real dad."

Adrian tensed and slowly opened his eyes, turning towards Jenna. He didn't look shocked, just calmly accepting.

"Okay, I'm not going to ask anything else. You can just keep any other secrets on a need to know basis." We chuckled and he smiled shyly. Carlisle stood up.

"Well, since that has been taken care of, there are a few things you need to decide now. First, I think, is something Jenna should explain to you." He raised his hand to her and she nodded, turning on the armrest so that she was fully facing him again, taking one of Adrian's hands in both of hers.

"Adrian, there's something all of us have been discussing, and is why we decided to tell you about us now, before we went too far. We . . . Everyone knows how close we've gotten, but, now that you know about us, there's something you might want to consider." He nodded for her to continue and she took a deep breath.

"We want to offer to change you. Before you say anything, let me tell you why. Please," she begged, seeing him tense. He didn't say anything, so she continued.

"After . . . after you told us about your situation, you know, with your dad and everything, we thought . . . maybe . . . you would want to join us. You'd live with us until you want to leave, you wouldn't have to worry about money . . . None of that. You could just . . . _live_. With me, if you want."

She looked at him, silently pleading with him to understand. To not turn away from her. He looked down at their hands, then at the rest of us, how each of us had someone. Well, except for me. He looked back at their hands, and then to Jenna. He put his free hand on the back of her neck and gently pulled her face to his.

It was the most touching thing I had ever seen. The only thing that went through my head was that my little girl was going to get the happy ending I would never have. She wasn't going to have to worry about that. From what I was seeing, she was going to have everything she ever could have wanted, and I couldn't have asked for more for her.

He pulled away slowly and looked at her, all confusion gone from his face. She looked at him, slightly surprised, but only hopeful, still not convinced that that had been an acceptance of her offer. Emmett ruined the moment by speaking in his booming voice.

"So…before you go again…was that a yes…or a no?" he asked, humor filling his tone.

Adrian turned to the rest of us, taking both of Jenna's hands in his. He looked at each of our faces, not questioningly, not undecidedly. Just looking. Examining. Thinking.

"It's your call, son. No one will think any different of you if you don't want to answer now, if that's the problem," Carlisle said. I saw Adrian stiffen, his eyes suddenly full of tears. Jenna looked at him worriedly.

"Adrian, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" A tear streaked down his face and Jenna wiped it away. It was soon followed by more, but he didn't bother to try and stop himself. He just let them come.

"You . . . All of you . . . seem to . . . care so much . . . about me. My . . . my opinion . . . what I want . . . how I'm feeling . . . It's just . . . more than I'm used to. I haven't . . . had to deal with people caring about me in a while, that's all," he said, as he tried to keep his sobs at bay.

Jenna smiled and hugged him, placing herself in his lap. He returned her embrace, burying her face in her shoulder. He composed himself quickly, and Jenna pulled away slightly. She kissed his forehead lightly and he smiled at her. He kept his arms around her waist and looked at us again.

"You are offering me a chance to start over, and there is no way I could refuse." Jenna squealed, and his face broke into a huge smile. She threw her arms around his neck and he laughed. The others joined in, not able to deny the happiness they were feeling. I just gave them a small smile. Carlisle eventually spoke up after all of us had calmed down a little.

"So, now you have two more questions. One is when you would like to be changed. I am thinking you should wait until after you graduate, since you won't be able to be around humans for a while. And second is if you want to join us on a little trip to Italy." Adrian nodded after the first, but blanched at the second question, causing Carlisle to chuckle.

"We got a call today from Volterra. Apparently, they need us to look into something for them, since no one that lives in there can do it. They need someone from the outside, and they know about our powers. As long as they know you are with us, you will be fine. They will ask about your changing, since humans are not supposed to know about vampires." Adrian nodded, his hand tightening around Jenna's.

"Okay. I'll go." Carlisle smiled.

"We leave tomorrow."

**A/N: New chapter 2! X-)**

_**Angels of Twilight**_


	3. Chapter 3

_Airplanes and City Gates_

**EPOV**

"_Okay. I'll go." Carlisle smiled._

"_We leave tomorrow."_

Adrian nodded, still looking slightly shocked. I chuckled and ruffled his hair, causing him to smile and try to fix it. Jenna laughed and hugged him around the neck, making sure not to choke him. Adrian yawned and Jenna looked at him. He smiled sleepily and his eyes drifted closed before slowly opening again. Emmett laughed, causing him to jump slightly.

"Might want to get your boy toy to bed there, Jenna. He looks like he's on the verge of collapse!" Jenna glared playfully before standing and helping Adrian up. She put her hand on his chest to keep him from falling forward and he steadied himself. His chin hit his chest before he jerked awake.

"Come on, Adrian. I really don't want to have to carry you," Jenna said, wrapping one arm around his waist while draping his arm over her shoulders. His head fell to the side and he blinked, struggling to get his eyes open.

"You can do that?" he asked sleepily. She laughed quietly, gently tugging him towards the stairs.

"Yes, I can. And easily." He nodded like a drunk.

"Umm…you…might have…to…" he said as his knees gave out.

If it wasn't for Jenna having his arm over her, he would have fallen on his face, smacking right into the bottom step. She sighed and picked him up, swinging him over her shoulder. One hand dangled limply and the other was around her neck. He turned his face into her neck and sighed. I saw her shiver and chuckled. She turned and glared, a smile on her face, and walked up the stairs.

"Poor kid. Didn't know what the heck he was getting himself into," Emmett said, pulling Rose onto his lap. She draped her arm around his shoulders and he turned to kiss the hollow of her elbow.

"I'm gonna go start packing," I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable watching my brothers and sisters.

I didn't wait for a response and walked up to my room, closing the door behind me. I dragged my suitcase out from under my bed, but that's as far as I got before collapsing on my couch and staring out the wall-window. I watched the birds flit from tree to tree without a care in the world, completely unaware that they were being watched. And so was I, until Esme's hand teased my hair. She picked up my head and sat down, laying my head on her lap. She kept running her fingers through my hair and I sighed, closing my eyes.

_Are you okay, dear?_ She thought to me. I opened my eyes and gave her a small smile. I nodded once.

"Yeah. I didn't want to dampen the mood," I said, watching worry and sadness brush across her face. I knew my family was worried about me. I had been a vampire for over 200 years, and I was still alone. Now, I had to watch the newest member of my family find happiness in another only fifty years after she was changed. Sure, it didn't make me feel all that good, but I couldn't let that get in the way of everyone else being happy.

_Oh, sweetie_, she said, bending down and kissing my forehead. She seemed at a loss for words, her mind only showing flashes of me by myself while the others were with each other. She hugged my head to her chest for a moment and kissed the top of my head before getting up.

_You'll find someone, Edward. I know you will_. With that last thought, she walked out and gently closed the door behind her. She started singing in her head, and I mentally cringed and the thought that she was trying to distract herself from my predicament. I blocked out the rest of my family and went back to watching the birds outside my window.

We got to the airport with thirty minutes to spare, us guys having to dress Adrian while he was still knocked out. Our flight was leaving at noon, and the kid wouldn't wake up. We let him sleep while we brought everything downstairs and prepped the house for vacancy, but it got to the point where we had to wake him. This task proved to be nearly impossible. At one point, he gained enough consciousness to brush his teeth and eat a breakfast bar, but he quickly died again.

We called three taxis to take us to the airport, each of them staring the usual amount. Jenna, Adrian, and I got into one, Adrian being draped across the back seat. His head was in Jenna's lap and I was in the front passenger seat next to a disgruntled driver. We asked Carlisle if this was normal, but he wasn't worried. He went into this rant about how passing out can be really draining, especially when it's mixed with shock.

Now, we were sitting at a little café, Adrian slowly waking up as we drowned him in coffee. He was sitting next to Jenna, the chairs close together so he could lean against her, while the rest of us watched, amused, as he tried to figure out how he got to an airport without realizing it.

"Didn't any of you try to wake me?" he asked, rubbing one of his eyes with the heel of his hand. Emmett laughed, promptly making him look more awake.

"Wake you? We could have blown up the house without you realizing it!" he yelled amidst his laughter. He abruptly stopped and looked at Jasper.

"You _did_ deactivate that thing, right?" Jasper, quickly realizing what Emmett was doing, just shrugged nonchalantly, examining the back of Alice's hand. I watched as the color drained from Adrian's face.

"You blew up the house?" he screamed, his voice on the verge of cracking. His eyes looked like they would need to be scooped off the floor soon.

Emmett laughed again, Jasper joining in, quickly followed by me, if half-heartedly. I shook my head at Adrian and he sighed, putting the heels of his hands in his eyes and rubbing them.

"It is _way_ too early for this…" he mumbled. I chuckled and Emmett's jaw dropped.

"Dude…It's nearly noon," he said, shocked. Adrian glared at him.

"It's Saturday, _dude_," he said sarcastically. "I don't usually get up until noon on Saturdays, and that's on an early day."

"Well, that explains a lot…" Emmett trailed off, looking up at the ceiling. I just chuckled again.

_Flight 503 to Rome, Italy is now boarding_, the voice over the intercom announced.

We stood up and slowly made our way to our gate, making sure Adrian kept up. He did, however resentfully, and we gave our tickets to the attendant standing there. She smiled more at the guys than the girls, which was expected, and the girls grabbed their men, clearly saying they were taken. She glared at them after that, thankfully not noticing my lack of a possessive girlfriend, and handed the little stubs at the bottom back without a word. We boarded the plane, Adrian and Jenna sitting across the aisle from me. Carlisle and Esme sat in front of me, and Emmett and Rosalie were behind. Jasper and Alice were behind Jenna and Adrian. All the guys ended up on the outside. I, feeling luckier by the moment, had a vacant seat next to mine.

The plane took off ten minutes later, all of the seats around us filled with humans throwing a range of glances at us, from jealousy to awe. And that was when it started.

Emmett started poking me in the head, leaning back and looking out the window before I turned around to catch him. I growled at him once, making his innocent mask crack, but he didn't look at me. I turned back around, but I knew it wasn't over yet. I was right. He poked me again.

Right in the ear.

Wet-Willy style.

I screamed and whipped around and whacked Emmett upside the head. This only caused him to laugh loudly, scaring more than half the humans on the plane. I sat back down and leaned my head against the wall, using my shirt to get the spit out of my ear. I watched Emmett from the corner of my eye, but he just looked around in faux-amazement at the inside of the plane. I felt someone staring in my direction and noticed Adrian, a confused and sleepy look on his face, like he couldn't understand why we had enough energy to goof around.

"Might want to get used to it now. This is somewhat mild." His jaw dropped, but he just turned around and rubbed his eyes, leaning his head back.

It was quiet after that. But it just couldn't last the whole ride. Of course not.

A soft humming started, indistinguishable and broken at first, but got stronger quickly. I still didn't recognize what it was, but I knew I'd heard it somewhere. I sat there, trying to figure it out, but then Emmett started humming it as loud as he could, not leaving out any parts.

The Mission Impossible theme song…What a surprise…

He kept humming it, not letting up once. I saw Adrian slowly tensing as he tried to fall back asleep. He reminded me of a rubber band slowly being stretched across someone's fingers, like they were aiming it at someone. He finally snapped as Emmett it a high note, screeching like an animal in pain.

"Emmett, shut up!" he yelled. "How do you guys stand this?" he asked, still yelling. He threw his hands in the air and Jenna laughed.

A few more songs followed, but the flight ended before Adrian really burst again. He and Jenna talked most of the ride, providing a good distraction from Emmett's boredom. We got off the plane and grabbed our bags, walking out to the limo waiting at the entrance. Adrian's jaw dropped, but he kept walking.

We all piled in and were thankful for the short drive not giving Emmett enough time to think of another song. We arrived at the open wrought iron gates of Volterra quickly, our vampire driver making quick work of what should have been an hour long drive. The stone wall surrounding the city stood as tall as ever, intimidating outsiders and protecting the secret hiding within.

Adrian kept bouncing from seat to seat trying to see everything once we passed through the gates. Even though it sounded like there was something wrong, they were still allowing visitors into the city, not wanting to raise any suspicion. We did, however, pass a sign that said the city would be closed for a week starting tomorrow, due to necessary renovations to different areas.

"Kid, would you sit down? They'll let you go sightseeing once we get settled in!" Emmett boomed, causing everyone, including the driver, to jump. Adrian sat next to Jenna, looking a little fidgety. She took his hand and squeezed it, and he smiled at her.

The driver circled to right in front of the doors and we got out. There was shade over where we got out, so we didn't have to worry about the humans wandering around outside. The doors in front of us opened and two vampires came out, smirking at us.

"I am Demetri, and welcome to Volterra, Cullens." He looked curiously at Adrian and I moved closer to him and Jenna. "Aro did not say we would provide the food?"

"He is not food. He is part of this family," I said harshly as Jenna grabbed Adrian's hand and moved slightly in front of him. Everyone else moved closer, as well, forming a barrier between him and Demetri. Demetri raised an eyebrow and looked at his companion, who just shrugged.

"There was no mention of a human joining you to Volterra over the phone, was there?" he asked.

"No, but we did not know of his accompaniment until last night. I must apologize for any inconvenience this may pose," Carlisle answered before I could think of a smart remark.

I put a hand on Adrian's shoulder; the poor kid was shaking. I glanced at Jasper, but it looked like he was already trying to calm him down. A small snarl escaped my mouth as the second vampire's gaze landed on Adrian.

"What a waste," he mumbled. I full-out growled then, and he chuckled.

"Calm down, my boy. He will control himself, won't you, Felix?"

He just smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

_Castle Tours_

**EPOV**

We managed to get to the suite without anyone attacking Adrian, but there were definitely plenty of those who were wishing we hadn't been around to protect him. All of the bedrooms connected to one kitchen, dining room, and living room. Each couple had their own room, and there were three bathrooms connected to the suite. I made sure Adrian and Jenna got a room nearest one of them, since none of us but him needed one. The rooms were all decorated in the same way, various pieces of antique furniture amidst modernized pieces. King-sized beds were in each bedroom, as Emmett made a point to announce, some with canopies while others without.

Demetri and Felix tried to hang around while we checked out the rooms, but Carlisle and I managed to convince them that we no longer needed their assistance. They left grudgingly and told us we would be left alone for the night. Aro was expecting to meet with us first thing tomorrow morning. We sat around the flat screen in the living room, random On-Demand movies playing while we filled Adrian in on the Volturi.

"Basically, the Volturi are the absolute rulers of the vampire world. They are the oldest vampires known to our kind, and therefore the strongest," Carlisle summarized. Adrian nodded, taking this information better than the whole we-are-vampires-but-we-only-drink-animal-blood conversation.

"So I need to make sure I'm with at least one of you while I'm here, right?" he asked. I nodded.

"You saw how Felix reacted to you. I'm sure that if there had been less of us, he probably would have tried to attack you. As long as you are with someone, I will always be able to hear their thoughts, as well as yours, and come to help if something happens," I said, trying to reassure him. He nodded, but still looked a little worried. Jenna wrapped her arms around him and he hugged her back.

"Don't worry, Adrian. Carlisle is good friends with Aro, and none of these vampires want to make Aro mad by going after someone in his old friend's family," she said, kissing him on the cheek. He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

"Okay, but I'm not letting my guard down. I'm in a city filled with people that look at me like I'm food," he said, trying joke. It came out as more of a what-was-I-thinking tone, though.

"As well you should," Carlisle said. "As long as you are here, you need to make sure you are always watching your back, but not so much that you make yourself paranoid. You never know what's going to happen in the capital of the vampire world." How reassuring . . .

Adrian and Jenna went to bed not long after our joy-filled conversation, and I laid down on the couch. We had decided to take turns having a pair near the door in case someone tried to have a midnight snack, but with my power, I was able to convince them I would be enough on my own. The others were walking around the town, and Carlisle mentioned something about an old friend living nearby. The next shift started at two in the morning, when Jasper and Alice would take over for me. I still had a good two hours before they came back.

All by myself.

Wonderful . . .

I sighed from my position on the couch. I was looking up at the ceiling, having nothing better to do. TV held no entertainment for me, and I didn't have my wall of glass like I did at home to help me pass the time. I didn't want to listen to Jenna or Adrian's thoughts, so I walked over to the window. We had a view of the courtyard below, but there was none of the hustle and bustle there has been when we first arrived. It was silent, and not a single light was on. All of the humans were sleeping peacefully, unaware of the danger right outside their front doors.

A phone call brought our attention to today's agenda. Carlisle answered it while I headed to Jenna and Adrian's room to wake them—_him_—up. We knocked on the door and Jenna answered, already dressed.

"I need to wake him up?" she asked, looking amused. I smiled and nodded.

"That boy's still asleep?" Emmett's voice boomed from the kitchen. He mumbled some other phrases, but I didn't pay much attention.

"Aro just called. He wants to meet us and give a personal tour before the tourists start flooding in," I said. Jenna nodded and opened the door all the way.

"That _can't_ be the least bit comfortable," I said in disbelief.

Adrian was sleeping; there was no doubt about it. He had managed to position himself so that he was lying across the bed instead of on one side. His feet were hanging off the side and his body was twisted so his face was towards the ceiling and his feet were facing down. A line of drool made its way down his face and one of his arms was thrown over his eyes. His hair looked like mine, or so everyone in the room thought, and his clothes were twisted around him.

"Are you sure it's possible to wake him up?" I whispered. Jenna smiled and walked over to Adrian. She knelt down next to his head, which was almost hanging off the side of the bed. She took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. He didn't move.

"Adrian," she said in his ear. "It's time to wake up." I heard someone hold in a laugh behind me, but didn't turn around.

"Come on, babe. Everyone's waiting on you," she continued. Then there was the sound of a camera and a bright flash.

"Do you want some water, Adrian?" she asked, and he jumped awake, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"No. No water. I'm up. I'm up," he repeated, even though I could see he was far from it. I looked questioningly at Jenna, who smiled evilly and shrugged.

Emmett walked in from behind me, the camera still in his hand, and sat down on the bed next to Adrian. The poor kid jumped when he saw the brick wall in front of him and glanced at Jenna. I moved farther into the room just in time to see Emmett squint at Adrian and lean closer, like he was examining him. Adrian shifted uncomfortably.

"How in the world did you sleep like that?" Emmett asked, completely serious. Adrian's jaw fell, but he quickly composed himself.

"What?" he asked warily. Emmett showed him the picture and he blushed before shrugging and moving off the bed. He grabbed his suitcase and threw it on the bed, grabbing a random shirt and pants before heading into the bathroom to change. I turned back to Jenna.

"What did you do to that boy?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. She shrugged.

"I call his phone before school to make sure he's up. He asked me to so that he wouldn't be late, and there was one time he wasn't. I walked over there and his mother already knew me, so she let me in. He wouldn't wake up, so I splashed him with cold water." I could only shake my head in response.

"What? It worked, and it still does," she said. I nodded and looked at her.

"Yeah, I have to admit. It works pretty well."

The bathroom door slammed open and Adrian stuck his head out, a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth and a glare fixed on his face. Jenna smiled innocently and waved at him, but he just went back into the bathroom, the glare never leaving his face. Emmett burst out laughing as Adrian came out of the bathroom.

"She's got you whipped, kid," he said pointing at him. Suddenly Rose was behind Emmett and grabbed his ear, pulling his head down to her.

"I wouldn't talk, babe. Some would say the same about you," she said loudly, making him flinch.

"You know I love you, Rosie, right?" he said, and we all burst out laughing. Rose towed him out of the room by the ear.

Jenna and Adrian followed, her trying to keep a straight face and him looking like he wished he knew what he had been getting himself into. I walked out just as Carlisle walked over and raised an eyebrow at me in confusion; he made the right decision and just shook his head without asking. Jenna and Adrian sat down next to me on the couch, not letting go of each other's hand.

"Alright," Carlisle said, moving to the center of the room. "Let's go down to the throne room. That's where Aro is meeting us." All of us nodded and moved towards the door. Adrian was a little hesitant, but we gathered around him and Jenna as soon as we entered the hallway. Carlisle and Esme were in front, Rose and Emmett behind, and Alice and Jasper on his left. I was on his right. He smiled graciously at me, his eyes still filled with anxiety and caution. I patted his shoulder once in reassurance and we walked down to the throne room.

We stopped right in front of the dais where Aro was waiting. He looked curiously at Adrian, but didn't say anything about his presence.

"Welcome to Volterra, Cullen family," Aro said. "I hope your stay so far has been pleasant?" All of us nodded, not wanting to draw any more attention to Adrian. Aro smiled, pleased. "Wonderful. Now, as you know, I have some important information to discuss with all of you, but I think that can wait until later. For now, let me give you a tour of the castle." He turned and walked towards a door behind the dais, and we followed without a word.

We spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon going through various hallways that we would probably never be able to find again. Aro told us the history of both the castle and the city of Volterra as we went, but I tuned him out most of the time. I had a feeling he was doing it to intimidate Adrian, but it didn't seem to be working. I glanced over at him and he was listening attentively. He never asked any questions, but he absorbed every piece of information Aro decided to tell.

We finally made it back to the throne room, where Aro let us have an hour to ourselves before we met with him again to discuss this still-unknown topic. We got Adrian food from one of the little cafés connected to the castle and headed back up to the room. We sat on the couches and at the table, anxiously waiting for a phone call from Aro. The tension in the room grew with every minute that passed by, all of us knowing it had to be something important for him to want to talk about it so soon after our arrival.

The phone finally rang, and Carlisle got up to answer it. Adrian put the rest of his food on the coffee table and sat back, suddenly looking sick. Jenna looked at him, concerned, but he shook his head.

"He's just nervous about being in a room full of vampires that aren't like us," I whispered to her, low enough that Adrian wouldn't hear. She nodded and squeezed his hand. I made a quick motion telling her to comfort him, and she wrapped her arms around his middle, laying her head on his chest. His shoulders visibly relaxed, and he sighed into her hair.

Carlisle came over and nodded towards the door. We got up and followed him out, heading towards the throne room again, having no idea what it was we were about to hear.


	5. Chapter 5

_Virus_

**EPOV**

We formed our little box around Adrian again and used the most direct route back down to the throne room. We passed a couple of the guard members doing rounds, and I growled at them openly, seeing their eyes immediately turn black and their thoughts showing me what they'd like to do, if we would let them. My growls and our numbers kept them moving, and we luckily made it to the throne room without incident.

"Ah, Cullens, thank you for joining me once again. I hope you enjoyed the tour?" We nodded once as a group and he smiled, actually looking pleased. His eyes landed on Adrian and he seemed shocked at the kid's persistent interest. He walked down towards Adrian, and our box closed slightly.

"I mean no harm to the boy, Carlisle," he said, looking straight at Carlisle. "I only wish to see what the boy knows." All of us knew exactly what he meant; did he know about vampires. Adrian saved Aro the trouble, answering his not so discreet question.

"Know about what? Vampires? Yeah, they told me," he said, shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal. Aro's scarlet eyes flashed to Carlisle, who kept his cool under that gaze.

"He has agreed to be turned. As soon as he graduates school, it will be done," Carlisle explained calmly, his voice staying level.

"Why so long, Carlisle? I do not see the point in having a human with knowledge of us walking around alive just to finish school. Just kill the human now and get it over with. I'll do it, if you don't want to," Aro offered, his voice betraying his disgust of the human race. Adrian seemed to hear it too, and shrunk back. I stepped in front of his slightly and I felt him grab the back of my shirt in a death grip.

_He's gonna kill me, he's gonna kill me_, Adrian's mind kept saying, over and over again as his heart rate steadily increased. I looked at Jenna, who was already trying to calm him, but it didn't look like it was working.

_He's not letting me in, Edward_, Jasper thought to me. I nodded once and turned to him, breaking his hold on my shirt.

"He's not going to kill you, Adrian. Look at me," I said, grabbing his face roughly in my hand and putting my other hand on his shoulder. His eyes were darting around frantically, and I gently—according to me, at least—shook him. He focused on me, but I could still hear his mind going a mile a minute.

"He. Is. Not. Going. To. Kill. You," I said, pausing in between each word to make sure it was sinking in. "You're panicking, Adrian. Calm down, breathe, and focus. He's not talking about killing you. He's talking about your change," I said slowly.

I could understand the kid's worry in regard to Aro, but he was really blowing things out of proportion. Well, either that, or his natural fight-or-flight reaction with predators was finally kicking in. My family and I had no effect on him, but I guess the constant danger must have made something click in his head. His eyes finally met mine and I saw the rapid swirling of his thoughts immediately stop. He kept replaying my words over and over in his head before his shoulders slumped in my grip, his body relaxing once he realized and believed what I said. Jenna kept rubbing his back and talking soothingly to him, and he slowly turned his attention towards her instead. I let go of him slowly, making sure he was able to stand on his own.

"Fine, Carlisle. You may wait until the human child finishes his education. I will send a few members of the guard one month after to make sure the deed has been done," Aro said, ending the conversation I had missed trying to keep Adrian from having a fatal panic attack.

"Thank you for your understanding, Aro," Carlisle replied, inclining his head towards Aro in respect. Aro gave Adrian one last less-than-pleasant glance before he turned and walked towards his throne. He sat down with a sigh and seemed reluctant to start the conversation we actually came there for. I started searching his mind for what he was going to tell us, but he threw up a barrier and wagged a finger at me.

"Ah, ah, Edward. None of that. Let me get my thoughts arranged, and all of you will know of the news I have for you," he said, chastising me like a young child. He sat there for a few more minutes before he squared his shoulders and looked at Carlisle.

"Something is happening to us, my friend . . . something we never thought could ever happen," he started, his voice grave, defeated. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them again, his face looking much older than his never-changing body portrayed in to be.

"We are dying, Carlisle. Ten of our people have been brought here or arrived on our doorstep with this virus, and all ten have perished from whatever is affecting our kind. Only one week passes from infection until death, and it seems there is no way to save any of them. Their body rejects any and all forms of blood. They hallucinate as their body gets warmer and warmer, and they simply . . . cease to be. Nothing physically happens to the body except for the temperature change and anything that steps from their increased levels of violence, and we have no idea how it is happening. All of those recently lost have come from different areas in Europe, and had no connection to each other, in this life or the last," he explained, his eyes closing in defeat once more.

All of us remained silent for a while, trying to absorb what we had just been told. Vampires were dying from some mysterious disease, dying of starvation as their body refuses the only form of sustenance our kind can take in. They waste away for a week before they finally perish, and no one has any idea what—or even who—could be causing it. I looked at Carlisle and could see the gears turning in his head as he thought about the symptoms and what he knew as far as human medicine, but he wasn't able to link anything just yet.

"Aro . . ." he started, his mind still running, "would it be possible to see the remains?" he asked. Aro nodded slightly.

"I thought you would want to, my old friend. I will have someone escort you down later. For now, though, I would like to hear about these mysterious powers I have heard so many rumors about," he said, his voice slightly lighter than it had just been. Carlisle nodded in agreement, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I was wondering when he would ask, the power-hungry vampire he was. He was constantly trying to acquire vampires with strong powers to add to his guard.

Carlisle stepped forward first, and cupped his hands in front of him. Esme walked up next to him and did the same. Both focused on only their powers, their elements, and tiny tornadoes grew in their hands, the air tinged grey with the dust they pulled into themselves. Rosalie and Emmett lined up next to them and held their hands out in front of them, palms facing the ground. Tiny blades of grass slowly pushed up through the floor, a flower growing here, a bush growing over there, the rate speeding up as they continued to hold their hands up. Alice and Jasper moved to stand on Carlisle and Esme's other side and Alice snapped her fingers, a small flame erupting on the tip of her finger. Jasper rubbed his hands together once, almost like he was striking them like two stones, and put them at his sides, palms up. Two decent-sized flames danced in his palms, ready and waiting for a command. Jenna ran up next to Emmett and swirled her hand in the air, drawing the moisture floating around her into her outstretched palm. She stood with a small stream of water floating above her hand, constantly moving and changing shape. I grudgingly joined her, dragging Adrian behind me. I focused on the same moisture as Jenna had, but I greatly slowed the molecules of water and shaped them into long, pointed spear-like objects, the form becoming tangible and the spears landing in my expectant hands. I threw one into the floor and it cleanly buried itself in the brick. Rosalie and Emmett had long since released the floor from the holds of the nature they had brought upon it. The rest of us let the flow of power stop, letting the forces we had been using go back to their original places.

"Amazing . . ." Aro said, staring at all of us in turn. His eyes betrayed the interest he quickly wiped from his face, a greedy shine staring at all of us. I glanced back at Adrian to see him staring at all of us, shocked at the new revelation. We had never actually gotten to the possibility of him acquiring a power through his change in any of our conversations about vampires, but I had expected Jenna to mention it at some point, at least in passing. Apparently, she didn't.

"Carlisle," Aro began, still trying to find the right words, "what you and the rest of your coven have . . . this is unheard of. This, together, is the ability to control the world itself! Each of the elements that make this world what it is is in this very _room_, under the control of the eight of you!" He stood abruptly, and the images I caught from his mind were not appealing to me in the least. They consisted of each of us in the black uniforms of the Volturi guard, surrounding Aro as Marcus and Caius bowed before him in respect and reverence, complimenting him on his latest additions. He was about to say something, something he hadn't exactly thought over before deciding to localize it, when a loud and reverberating knock sounded on the solid wood doors of the throne room. A vampire who looked like he was in his mid-thirties ran in and fell to one knee before Aro, resting his arm on his knee and his opposite hand on the floor.

"Master, my sincerest apologies for the interruption, but I have urgent news," the vamp said, his face towards the floor.

"Proceed," Aro said coolly, mentally debating whether or not to kill the guard member for intruding.

"Master, another victim has arrived on the castle doorstep. She says she has been ill for four days, and wished to seek refuge here," he said quickly, weighing his chances of getting out of the room to see tomorrow. Aro silently debated with himself before nodding once.

"Bring her in."

**A/N: So, Dreamer is now complete, which means this story is now my focus. I'm going to try to get chapters done ahead of time so I can update on a regular basis, but there's no guarantee. I also don't see this being very long at the moment, but who knows? I guess we'll see what happens.**

_**~Angels of Twilight**_


	6. Chapter 6

_The Next Victim_

**EPOV**

Aro and I looked at each other quickly before turning back to Aro. His face had gone back to the defeated, hopeless gaze we had seen before, something none of us had ever expected to see adorning Aro's usually arrogant features. He visibly held back a sigh as he dismissed the messenger with a wave of his hand, his eyes following the man as he ran from the room, thanking whatever deity that was listening for allowing him to live another day. The thought of Aro's expression passed through the man's mind for only a moment before his attention reverted back to the fact that he wasn't ripped apart and burning in a heap of soon-to-be-ash. I personally didn't blame him, but since I wasn't in danger of dying—as far as I could tell—I was more worried about the effect this disease was having on Aro. He was nothing like his usual self, and there was very little that could bring his ego down.

"The girl will be brought to one of the rooms on the level below this one. They are more secure and we have set up a medical clinic in one of the empty rooms. I will lead you down, but I must notify Marcus and Caius of our new arrival," Aro said, his voice only showing emotion when he said the names of his brothers. Carlisle also noticed the change, but did not show it when he nodded in response. Aro waved over an orderly and sent him off to tell the other two Volturi leaders of the arrival before standing and brushing nonexistent dust from his crisp white shirt.

"Aro, if I may, how long has this disease been around? I assume not long, from the number of victims, but I wish to be sure," Carlisle asked. Aro sighed again.

"Only about two weeks now, but the numbers are slowly increasing. This is the second so far this week, and I would not be surprised if another were to come in," Aro explained, walking down from the raised dais. He walked through our group and stopped half way to the door. "I must warn you all before we go down to see her, though. If she is truly four days into this sickness, the sight will not be pleasing, and it will quickly get worse." All of us nodded in acknowledgement of his warning, and I heard Jenna worrying about Adrian. He was trying to prepare himself for all of the possibilities, but I could hear the underlying anxiety.

We followed Aro from the throne room and out into the hallway, heading down multiple corridors and through a room here and there. I had a feeling we were heading towards the front door, but my internal compass was spinning like crazy with all the turns.

We soon stopped outside a wooden door and Aro led us down. Caius and Marcus showed up just as I was going down, being the last in the line behind Adrian, and they both nodded curtly to me. They seemed just as tense and apprehensive as the rest of us, and their minds held the same growing sense of hopelessness for the victims and our people as Aro's.

The stairs spiraled down about ten feet below the main floor before we reached the bottom. Aro made a sharp left turn and an immediate right before stopping at the third room on the right. The spacing between the doors told me the rooms were probably large, but not nearly as large as the suites on the upper floors. Aro was about to open the door when Carlisle spoke up.

"Aro, are there any precautionary measures that need to be taken before we enter?" he asked seriously, slipping into doctor-mode. Aro gave him a sad, tight smile.

"The disease is not contagious, my friend. That is exactly why we do not know how vampires are getting it to begin with," Aro replied, the defeat barely masked in his voice again. His brothers joined him at the door, their faces reflecting the emotions fighting on Aro's face. Carlisle nodded in acknowledgement, but his eyes were no longer looking at his surroundings as his mind went back to sorting through symptoms and diseases. He was adding and eliminating so fast, I actually had to block him out to keep my bearings. I was getting the vampire version of a headache quickly trying to keep up with him.

Aro turned to look at his brothers for a moment, the expected contempt from earlier nowhere in sight. He knew it wasn't his brothers that were taking his control over the fate of the vampires form him. He knew they weren't the threat right then. Or so his mind told him. I wasn't too sure of anything anymore.

He opened the door and the smell of old blood slammed into us, everyone taking a step back and Adrian turning around holding his nose. I exhaled and stopped breathing, the feeling uncomfortable, but the action thankfully not needed. Jenna was showing Adrian to put his shirt over his nose, that it would help lessen the smell, even just slightly. Carlisle, of course, was affected the least and the first to enter, followed by the three brothers and then the rest of us.

The sight before us was nothing like we expected. Then again, we hadn't had any idea what to expect to begin with. The girl—she was probably only fourteen or so—had short blonde hair that stopped just above her small shoulders; it was dirty and limp. Her eyes were closed at the moment, but opened slowly, as if with fatigue, as Carlisle cautiously approached. Her skin was the color of death, pasty and pale, but nothing like the shade of a . . . healthy vampire's skin. There were dark purple bruises under her eyes, which were a dull red, unlike the pool of dried and fresh blood on the floor next to the bed and the small trail from the corner of her mouth. I heard the brothers gasp simultaneously and turned to them.

"Jane . . ."

**A/N: Hehe . . . Her power is cool, but I personally hate Jane . . . Oh, well! Now that Dreamer is complete, hopefully these updates will be regular, meaning once a week unless I get at least three chapters ahead. Then I'll give you a number of reviews to reach and I'll update early. This seemed to work for my other stories, and it lets me know how into the story all of you are. I will not hold chapters hostage, though. The only reason a chapter is not posted or is late will be because it was not done yet.**

**Hope you enjoyed this little get-back-into-the-story chapter!**

_**~Angels of Twilight**_


	7. Chapter 7

_Symptoms_

"Jane . . ." Aro whispered, his voice betraying his shock and mounting despair. He hadn't recognized her at first, and felt only slightly guilty for it. She gave him a tight, pained smile before coughing uncontrollably, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. "My dear, what happened to make you this way?" Aro asked, shaking his head slowly. I could hear his thoughts circling around the loss of such a useful power, and tried with all my might not to scream at him. She was slowly dying, and he was concerned only with losing one of his pets.

"I don't know, Master. I'm sorry," she responded, her voice raspy from her coughing fits. She looked like she would cry if she could. This girl was too loyal for her own good.

"Aro, my I?" Carlisle asked, gesturing to Jane. Aro blinked at him once before he realized what Carlisle said and nodded.

"Of course, my friend, of course," he responded, turning to Jane again. "Carlisle is an old friend, dear. He is here to see if he can find out what is going on. I need you to cooperate with him, my dear, and answer his questions as completely as you can. Can you do that for me, little one?" he asked her, placing his had gently on the side of her face. She smiled, completely drained of energy, and nodded once. I could hear the others feeling bad for them, thinking Aro actually cared that this vampire was dying, but his thoughts told me otherwise; he wanted her to use her power at his command until the day she died, and was making sure she thought he cared about her fate. I suppressed a snarl, and Jasper looked at me.

_What was that about?_ he asked me. I just shook my head once. _Later_, he thought firmly. I nodded. We watched as Carlisle took the few steps between himself and the bed and knelt down next to Jane. She looked slightly wary of him, but did not want to disappoint Aro, so did not move away.

"Jane, can you tell me how long you've been like this?" Carlisle asked gently, not getting any closer. She hesitated for a moment, glancing at Aro and then back at Carlisle, before answering.

"This is the third day, as far as I can tell. That's how long it's been since I started feeling . . . different, but I do not know when I was . . ." she broke off, not sure how to describe what was going on.

"Infected," Carlisle replied with a sad smile. "Whatever this is, it is affecting us like a virus would affect a human." She looked at him like he had lost his mind, and he smiled, understanding her look without my assistance. "I am a doctor, Jane, for humans. What is happening to you and the others before you is like what happens with certain diseases humans can get. I have yet to figure out which one, though," he finished, almost to himself. She seemed slightly less confused, but still not confident in Carlisle.

"So, what was going on when this started?" he asked, and she immediately looked to Aro for permission. I was getting flashes of what looked like a mission, but I decided to keep that to myself unless she decided not to tell. Aro didn't look happy about it, but nodded anyway.

"Alec and I were on a mission to dispose of a couple of rogues repeatedly attacking a large town day after day in northern Italy. They were leaving too many bodies in a short period of time. The mission was already completed when this started," she explained. Carlisle nodded for her to continue. She sighed and did so, but another coughing fit wracked her small form. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly as she coughed, suddenly rolling over as more blood spilled from her mouth. She coughed for a minute or so, any blood she recently drank now on the floor, and she leaned back onto the bed. She just laid there breathing roughly before attempting to continue again.

"Alec and I had split up to hunt before heading back here, going to towns a few miles from the town our mission had been in. We said we would meet up in a town just outside Volterra before returning for debriefing. I took some dirty old man. I figured if he was sleeping under newspapers and living out of a cardboard box, he wouldn't be missed," she said with disgust. From the memory of him that flashed through her mind, I was surprised she actually did take him. She never seemed to be one for hobos. Their blood was beneath her.

"His blood tasted . . . strange, but I didn't think anything of it. I thought it was the filth on his skin tainting the blood or something. I disposed of his body and started walking back, at a human pace, I might add, but only got just outside that town before things started happening. I hadn't even really started my way back here, that's how fast it starts," Jane said softly, visibly flinching as she remembered her deterioration to where she was now.

"Jasper, would you get my medical bag? I need to collect a sample of this blood before it completely dries," he said, while Jane composed herself. "Jane, what happened first?" he asked her once Jasper headed back to our suite. She visibly shuddered.

"I . . . got really dizzy, and my vision turned red. The red faded after I sat down, but I was dizzy all day. I had to lean on things to stay upright, and stumbled around when there was nothing to hold on to. Whenever I got too dizzy, everything would turn red again until I rested for a minute or so. The next day, I was still dizzy and venom kept flowing from my nose, like a human with blood. It made me feel drained and exhausted, but I kept trying to get home," she explained, venom pooling in her eyes as she spoke softly. She tried to continue after a moment, but another round of severe coughs engulfed her. Jasper came in at that exact moment, and Carlisle took his bag from him. He took out a small glass tube and caught some of the blood Jane was coughing up, closing the top and laying it on the floor. He took out another and collected some of the blood already on the floor, and some of the dried blood in yet another. Adrian was holding back a gag and Jenna was rubbing his back and turning him around, trying to soothe him.

"I started coughing on the third day, but the blood didn't start until early today. Yesterday, it was venom," she finished, her voice hoarse.

"Okay, Jane. Thank you. If you can think of anything that could help me figure out what is happening, do not hesitate to speak up. We need to find out what is going on before too many of us are infected," Carlisle said. "I will need a sample of your venom, though, to see if there are any abnormalities." She nodded after getting the go-ahead from Aro. Carlisle took what he needed, Adrian's presence helping speed the process along, and all of us left the room. We followed the three brothers back to the throne room, where they sat down simultaneously. Aro sighed and rubbed his forehead and sighed, before looking at Carlisle.

"Aro, do you think you could spare a man or two to get me that body if it is still there? I think it may greatly aid my research," Carlisle asked carefully. Aro nodded once.

"They can search for Alec while they do. We cannot lose another valuable member of our guard," he said. He raised his head from his lap and looked at Carlisle. "I need you to find out what is going on, my friend. Our world is beginning to fall apart, and there is nothing I can do to stop it. It is up to all of you," he said, borderline pleading. Carlisle nodded.

"I understand, Aro. I will do everything in my power to find the cause of this, and, hopefully, how to stop it. I cannot promise miracles, Aro, but I will do what I can," Carlisle responded.

"That is all I asked, old friend. It is all I can hope for."


	8. Chapter 8

_Blood_

**EPOV**

Carlisle spent the rest of the night looking at the three samples of blood he took, as well as the sample of Jane's venom. I offered my help while the others stayed up in the suite with Adrian, since I had more medical experience than the others, but I still felt like I was doing nothing. Carlisle just kept jumping from station to station, muttering things to himself, scribbling something down on a notepad by that specimen, and then going on to do the same with the next one. I sighed silently, trying not to disturb him, and let my mind wander to the thoughts around me. Lucky me, they were all about the topic I was trying to avoid.

_What's going on around here?_

_What happened to Jane?_

_Is she going to be okay?_

_I hope Aro's friend can find out what's going on . . ._

_I wonder if there'll be any more victims this week . . . I hope not._

_Me neither_, I thought to myself, flashes of Jane's decrepit form popping up in my mind. No one had actually recognized her when she showed up outside, and she was only getting worse.

"Edward," Carlisle called, bringing me back to my own head, "can you see if there have been any changes in Jane?" He didn't even turn from what he was doing to ask. I locked onto Jane's thoughts in the next room, and was overwhelmed with the burning pain of bloodlust. I gasped, but did not pull away.

_I need to feed!_ her mind screamed. Her frustration at her weakened state passed through with her thoughts, and steadily grew stronger.

"Carlisle, she needs to feed, but she's too weak to move. Her thoughts remind me of a newborn's in their severity. She's ready to attack anything with a beating heart that walks by the door. Her need would be enough to get her out of the bed," I explained to him. He froze and suddenly turned to me.

"Where's Adrian?" he asked. My eyes widened with his train of thought, and I searched the castle for him. I immediately found Jenna's thoughts coming from the stairwell leading down to this floor, and Adrian's with hers. My mind shot to Jane to find her already up and plowing through the door blocking her from the hallway. Her mind was only focused on one thing: blood.

I ran out the door at full speed and slammed her into the wall, pulling her arms behind her so it hurt if she moved. She fought against me for another moment or two before stilling and breathing heavily, like she could suck his blood through his pores and into her mouth if she breathed hard enough. She cursed me a thousand times to Hell as I continued to keep her from her relief of the burning in her throat, but I didn't let go.

She snarled, growled, and snapped at me, but stopped abruptly as Carlisle appeared next to us, confusion on his face. He turned to look at Jenna and Adrian, Jenna crouching in front of him with her teeth bared and growls reverberating in her chest, and slowly walked over. Adrian lightly touched her arm and she immediately quieted, staying in her crouch but taking Adrian's hand. Carlisle took Adrian by his free arm and turned it just a little, exposing a small cut from Jenna pushing him behind her; he must have rubbed his arm against the rough brick of the wall.

Carlisle flashed back into his make-shift lab for less than a second before appearing next to Adrian again with a large bandage. He opened the sterilized wrapper and placed it over the small abrasion on his forearm before looking at Jenna's crouched form.

"Take him back to the room. Do not stop for anything or anyone. Keep that cut covered until I get there, or you may have unwanted visitors," he said imploringly. She nodded once and picked him up, throwing him gently on her back, before shooting up the stairs as fast as she could manage. It took a minute for the scent of his blood o fade enough for Jane to calm down, but her anger made it take just a little bit longer.

"Edward Cullen! You bastard! Let me go! I'm going to drain that pet of yours dry! Let me go NOW!" she repeatedly screamed. I kept my grip as Carlisle observed, and that was exactly how Aro found us.

"Carlisle, what is going on? Why is your boy restraining Jane so?" he asked, his thoughts reflecting his ill feelings towards me for my treatment of one of his favorites. Carlisle gave him a tight smile.

"She has just shown me the fifth phase of the virus's progression: uncontrollable thirst. She went after Jenna's mate, Adrian," Carlisle explained.

"The human boy?" Aro asked, much less concerned now. Carlisle nodded once and sighed.

"According to her thoughts, she is reacting to her thirst like a newborn only a few days into this life. Her body, I can only guess, is most likely almost completely void of blood after yesterday's newest symptom."

"By that, I assume you mean the purging?" Aro asked, looking for confirmation. Carlisle nodded again and looked at Jane with empathy. "And that is why she is not using her powers to make him release her?" Carlisle nodded again.

"It may be a mix of that and the strength of her bloodlust affecting her ability to think properly. She was so focused on Adrian's blood, she may have not even thought about using her powers," he said absently. His thoughts quickly swirled to a question, wondering something he had yet to ask Aro about.

"Aro . . . have all of the victims been human-drinkers?" Aro nodded once in the affirmative. Carlisle's thoughts made yet another leap and another question followed.

"Had all of them recently fed when the symptoms started manifesting?" Once again, a confirming nod. Carlisle's mind slipped into doctor mode, jumping from conclusion to conclusion, adding a fact here, an assumption there, and generally sending my mind into a dizzying spin with its speed. I could almost hear a little bell chime as he found . . . well, something.

"Aro, is there any way to get word out to the rest of the vampires quickly?" he asked. Aro gave him a funny look.

"We do not exactly have one of those social network websites on the Internet set up just for vampires, you know. We can barely keep track of how many vampires are currently on this Earth, let alone get a message to every single one," Aro responded, like he was talking to a small child lacking in common sense. Carlisle recognized his tone, but did respond in any way.

"Carlisle, what's going on?" I asked, unable to pick his discovery out of the whirling thoughts in his head. Jane had finally calmed, trying to understand what whatever Carlisle found meant for her.

"We need to call all of the vampires we know, warn them about this. It could easily turn into an epidemic," he muttered to himself.

"Carlisle, what are you talking about?" I asked a little louder, trying to get his attention. He acted like he didn't even hear me.

"This is going to spread too quickly . . . I need that body to start on a cure . . ." he continued.

"Carlisle!" I yelled sharply, making him jump. He turned to me with a questioning look on his face. "What's going on?" I asked a third time. He sighed before explaining.

"It must be the blood, Edward. It's the only thing that could even begin to affect a vampire. Something is in the human blood that is doing this. The only thing I can't figure out is _what_ is in the blood and how it got there. I think it's safe to assume all of the vampires being affected did not hunt in the same village Jane was in, maybe not even the same country, so something is happening to change or add to the humans' blood."

"So . . . we need to keep _all vampires_ from feeding until we can reverse whatever is going on?" I asked, the skepticism apparent in my tone. He nodded once, but I could tell he was just as hopeless as I was.

"You do realize how unrealistic that is, correct?" Aro said slowly, his eyebrow raised. Carlisle sighed again and nodded.

"Yes, I know, but until I have more information, this is the only temporary solution I can think of. They can either abstain from feeding for an indefinite period of time, or try animal blood until whatever this is ends. Either way, as far as we know, human blood is now toxic to our kind."

"None are going to be happy about this, old friend," Aro stated.

"I understand, but there is nothing else to do until I take a look at the body Jane drained and see if there is anything that is not supposed to be there. I cannot make them, but I have to at least tell them how to protect themselves," Carlisle responded, shaking his head slowly. Aro inclined his head slightly in agreement, but not enough so his head was below Carlisle's.

I loosened my grip on Jane and lifted her away from the wall, keeping my hands on her shoulders to steady her. She tried to stand on her own and her knees automatically gave out, but I caught her before she hit the ground. I carried her back into the room, stepping through the ruined door, and set her back down on the bed. She looked towards the wall and said nothing. Neither did I. I walked back out to join Aro and Carlisle when there were sudden footsteps running our way. I dashed in front of the two and crouched, but stood up when I realized it was a guard.

"Master! More have arrived outside the doors," he said, his voice desperate for Aro to make things right, to tell him everything would be okay. That there would be no more deaths.

"How many?" Aro asked, not letting any emotion show through his words.

"Three. Two that are at the very beginning of day six, and the other only started feeling strange a few hours ago. Two females and one male," he answered, visibly flinching as he mentioned the two at the next to last stage of the disease. Aro nodded.

"Bring them down to the empty rooms in this hallway so they are close to Carlisle's lab. And see if someone is free to put a new door on Jane's room when you are finished." The guard nodded once and flashed back up the stairwell.

"Stage 1: dizziness and blood-stained vision. Stage 2: uncontrollable venom flow. Stage 3: venom loss through coughing. Stage 4: venom turns to blood. Stage 5: uncontrollable thirst," Carlisle ticked off on his fingers. Aro gave him a tight smile.

"Stage 6: live decomposition of the body. Stage 7 . . . death."


	9. Chapter 9

_Prey_

**BPOV**

I had been running for days. Why? No idea. I had nowhere to go, nowhere to go back to, so I had nothing to lose. As soon as I was bitten sixty years ago, I had nothing to lose. Because I had lost everything.

A newborn vampire ran into our small rural town, having just woken up from its transformation. My house, with my mother and father, Renee and Charlie, was on the other side of town from where the vampire entered, but not far enough for it to leave us alone. It attacked anyone and everyone, and the only ones to survive were any of the pets that were able to get away into the surrounding forest. People who tried to run away were easily caught and killed before they could even scream. I was the last to be attacked, but I wouldn't count myself among the survivors. Isabella Swan died the day that town was attacked.

Who am I now, if I am not her? I don't know.

Isabella Swan wouldn't go hunting in the woods. It was unbecoming of a young lady back then.

Isabella Swan wouldn't be happy to find an animal to kill. She was too soft.

Isabella Swan wouldn't look at anything alive as a potential food source. She wasn't cruel.

Isabella Swan wouldn't look at people like they were nothing like her.

Isabella Swan wouldn't have to fight against herself to keep from attacking them like prey.

Isabella Swan wouldn't have attacked someone to sustain herself.

Isabella Swan wasn't a murderer.

I may tell people to call me Isabella, or Bella, but I am not Isabella Swan. I haven't been for sixty years, and won't ever be again. Charlie and Renee Swan's daughter died as soon as that newborn got full and decided to leave her half dead and changing into something out of her worst nightmares, changing alone with no idea what was happening to her, besides the burning pain spreading through her body and eradicating any attempt at rational thought.

I met Tasha and John that way, but ten years apart. Both had been bitten and left to change by their attackers, and I took it upon myself to make sure they wouldn't have to go through everything I did; they wouldn't have to be alone. Neither of them remembered anything major about their human lives besides their names, and only their first at that, and I became their security. I was the constant, the one thing they knew for certain. I told them everything about me, about what we were, about what I was going to do, and let them decide for themselves what they wanted to do. I couldn't be sure, but I like to think I helped ease the pain of everything they forgot by filling as many of the holes as I could with what I had.

It's been thirty years since I met John, and forty since Tasha.

We were running across Western Europe three weeks ago, stopping to hide from the sun by day and running like shadows through the night. We took our time, seeing the big tourist monuments by the silvery light of the moon. We had nowhere to go, nowhere to call home, but we were okay with that. The world was our home, and we were taking our time exploring it. We promised each other that, once we had made it to every country and continent together, we would finally set up a permanent home. At least, until we had to move again for the sake of our secret.

Tasha and John quickly bonded during his newborn years, since Tasha had just come out of them. They talked all the time about the struggle against the bloodlust and their desire to remember, and I let them have their time alone. I knew they needed it, and I had already given them all I could. These talks quickly led to me becoming the third wheel, but when I mentioned them going off on their own to be together, the adamantly refused to leave me to wander by myself, especially since I had already been alone for forty years. The truth was, I was happy they didn't leave me. I knew it was selfish, but I didn't want to be alone anymore.

We had just reached Rome, Italy, when we decided on a hunt. We hadn't hunted since we arrived in Spain, but it was no problem for us. We had practiced not hunting for long periods of time and keeping our control, and all three of us could go a max of one month without hunting before we started losing it. We had about a week before it would not really be optional to hunt anymore, and we really didn't want to take our chances if we came across a human.

One thing bugged me as we few through the forest, searching for prey. As we travelled, we kept hearing of something strange, something I never would have expected to ever be possible: vampires were getting sick. They were dying like humans. Well, not _exactly_ like humans, but they were actually dying from some virus. All the vampires we overheard were scared to even hunt, since the ones dying were human drinkers. It made me kind of glad that grown-up Bambi and friends were my unlucky victims, but, for some reason, I was having a hard time believing the rumors. I mean, I'd been told of at least two hundred vampires that had already perished, but . . . I couldn't accept the fact that something was hurting us. I couldn't wrap my mind around it.

I didn't notice when John and Tasha broke away, but when I finally stopped to look, they were nowhere in sight. I sniffed the slight breeze coming from the direction I just came and got their scent. They were only about a mile away, and the strong scent of blood told me they had already made their kill. I smiled and turned to start my own hunt, sighing deeply before inhaling just as deeply.

_Trees, grass, John, Tasha, fresh kill, birds, a rabbit, flowers, and . . . What?_

My eyes shot open and my chin quickly rose from its position against my chest to see another vampire running out of the trees in front of me. He stopped about ten feet away, not nearly far enough for my liking, and crouched in an offensive position. I copied his position, not letting my gaze waver from his snarling face as I tried to figure out what was going on. He looked like he wanted to attack me, but his eyes showed something else, like he was just realizing something. I kept my eyes on him, watching as whatever it was pieced itself together in his mind, much slower than I would have ever expected, and I took in his appearance from my peripheral vision.

He was much smaller than I had first thought, his stature about the size of a fourteen year old boy. His dark blonde hair had everything from sticks that still had the leaves on them to dried mud in it. There was nothing that resembled an article of clothing on him, whatever he wore torn to shreds that stayed together just enough to "clothe" him. His eyes, though, were what sent chills down my usually chill-less spine.

They were blood red, like a human-drinker's, but it was what I saw when I looked into them—or what I didn't see—that I couldn't take my mind off. His mind was gone, any semblance of who he was completely gone. This boy, this _body_, was nothing but muscles reacting to instinct. There was no thought process, only a need and the means to fulfill it.

I straightened from my defensive position and he did the same, tilting his head to the side and looking at me with disappointment, like I wasn't what he thought I was. I could see the hunger that had almost drove him to attack me resurface again, and he was off, running before I could even think of something to say. Not even a minute later, Tasha and John came up behind me, their bodies tense.

"Bella, are you okay? What happened?" Tasha asked, watching the trees.

"I . . . I'm not sure," I said slowly. "I think . . . I think I just saw proof of this virus we've been hearing about." I proceeded to tell them about the young looking boy, and they came to the same conclusion I had.

We were silent for a few moments, letting the information finally sink in. Something was out there, and it was taking down the biggest predators on the planet with no effort whatsoever. I had no idea what it was, what caused it to come about, or how vampires were getting it, but there was one thing I did know: I no longer had a desire to hunt, especially not with the thoughts of something preying on us floating around in my mind.

"Let's keep moving," I whispered, walking towards the trees in front of me. I only took three steps before I stopped again, not hearing anyone following me. I turned around to see something that would have made my heart stop had it not already stilled.

Tasha and John, gripping each other for dear life as they struggle to stay standing.

I rushed over to them, standing in between them so I had one holding me on each side. Both of them were holding their heads and blinking rapidly, groaning and moaning in pain.

"What?" I asked worriedly. "What's the matter? What's going on?"

"I . . . I'm really . . . really dizzy, Bella," Tasha said haltingly. I whipped my head to John to see him nodding his head ever so slightly, like any more and his head would fall off. I just stared at him, feeling their weight slowly increase on my shoulders as the mental weight of what was happening finally hit me. I didn't want to say it, but there was no denying what was going on.

My friends had just become prey.

They were infected.

If someone couldn't help them, they would die.


	10. Chapter 10

_Bella_

**EPOV**

I followed Aro up to the front of the castle to see if my assistance would be needed. From what the guard said, two of the vampires were experiencing their last day. I had yet to see anyone at that stage of the virus, but from Aro's description, it wouldn't be pretty. I stayed a few steps behind him as he walked quickly to where five of the guard members were huddled, and they parted like he was Moses. Three figures were on the floor, two of them lying on their sides and the other sitting against the wall, her head on her knees and her hands clutching at her head.

"What is their condition?" he asked the nearest guard member. Demetri sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"They are just starting to turn. They have yet to fall apart, but there is a dust that falls from them whenever they move or are moved. The other girl won't let us near her. The pain in her head is making her fearful, and she growls whenever we go near her," he explained. "Humans have no idea what real pain is," he mumbled to himself. I had to agree with him. A migraine for a human was nothing compared to the memories of pain I was getting from the two lying on the floor. It felt like someone had been trying to slowly pry their skull apart, slowly splitting it in half. Aro nodded once before kneeling next to two farthest along.

I kept my eyes on the girl against the wall and slowly walked towards her, kneeling about five feet away. The vampire was smaller than most, but in a delicate, feminine way. Her skin, from what I could see, was smooth and snow white, her hair a soft chocolate brown. Her face was hidden in her knees, or it was until I started to speak. I didn't even get a full word out before her head shot up and she growled at me, blinking rapidly as she tried to clear what I assumed was the spinning from her sight. What caused me to freeze was not her reaction, but her eyes themselves. They were gold, a dark gold, but still the color that told of an animal blood diet.

I could tell as I continued to look at her eyes that something was indeed messing with her mind, disorienting her so much that it did not seem like she knew what was going on anymore. She probably fought it back long enough to get her friends help, and then got hit with the full brunt of the first symptom. She could tell that I was there, but the dizziness was keeping anything more than that out of her reach. Her face was heart-shaped and delicate, with soft angles and lashes that framed the currently swirling windows into her mind. She looked surprisingly fierce as she growled at me, but I stayed where I was. I didn't make another sound and she slowly quieted down. I took the time that it took to look at her mind, just to see how badly the virus was stirring her up. Instead of a mental hurricane, I found perpetual night.

Absolutely nothing.

It was so strange . . . I could look into her eyes and see the storm I had expected . . . but when I actually looked into her mind . . . nothing. I turned to Aro, who looked like he just realized the color of these vampires' eyes, and he looked back at me.

"Animal drinkers . . ." he whispered. I nodded once and looked back at the young woman in front of me. She was facing me, like she was watching me, but her eyes were still unfocused. I felt like I was looking at someone trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together as I watched her eyes, something coming together before breaking apart just as quickly and linking with something else. She was trying to focus, but nothing stayed together long enough for it to make any sense to her.

"Hello," I said softly. Her whole body tensed and she turned away from me, but she didn't growl again. Her eyes kept darting to me, but she always looked away again. I didn't move any closer to her, not wanting to pressure or scare her.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I whispered, trying to keep her as calm as possible and still make some kind of progress with her. I sat down Indian style where I was and she watched me warily, not even trying to hide the fact that she was trying to see what I was doing. It looked like she was actually able to see me now, like she had something to focus on and a need to do so, so she was able to focus at least a tiny bit. I could see her fighting with herself to stay focused on me, but she was quickly losing the fight.

"My name is Edward," I said, still sitting in the same spot. Her eyes focused a little more when I spoke, but quickly went back to the "battle" position where she struggled to keep control of her thoughts. I saw one of her hands move, like she was going to raise it, but it stopped just as quickly. I decided to focus on her mind the next time I spoke, to see if I could get anything out of her head while she was focusing on my words.

"Can you tell me your name?" I asked, watching with fascination as the black nothingness that was her mind started clearing. Flashes of places and faces appeared in her mind: her face, the faces of the vampires she as with, different landmarks from all over the western hemisphere . . . It was amazing, all the places she had seen. Words started flashing across the pictures as she processed my question, and one seemed to slow down as she thought of it. Other words continued to dart here and there, but that one five letter word stilled in the middle of her thoughts.

Bella.

It was gone before I could say anything, lost in the torrents of her mind. The blackness swallowed the pictures and words once again, her objective of answering my question achieved. I tilted my head to one side in thought.

"Bella? Is that your name?" I asked, still whispering. She showed no response for a few seconds before her head twitched in an up and down motion. It was barely a nod, but I knew that's what it was supposed to be. I smiled at the progress and thought of another question.

"Who are your friends, Bella?" I looked into her mind again, first seeing the black wall and then the swirling thoughts and images. She reacted a little faster this time than the last, making me feel slight relief.

Images of the other two vampires in various places flew through her mind, and it only took a fraction of the time it did for her own name for theirs to appear and stop in her mind. The name Tasha appeared over a picture of the woman, and John over the man. The names and pictures faded back into the swirling jumble of thoughts, but I could sense her trying to say something else. I pulled back a little so I could look at her face and was shocked to see the amount of focus she had managed while under the influence of the virus. She looked almost . . . normal, like she wasn't affected at all, but she was still struggling. I could see flashes of pain cross her face from the dizziness and exhaustion from the effort of trying to communicate, but she was determined to tell me something.

I went back into her mind just as a string of words appeared above all the other thoughts, flashing one word at a time so fast that I would have missed everything if I wasn't a vampire. Then again, I couldn't read minds if I wasn't, but I guess that's beside the point. When the words finally stopped, I replayed what she had shown me.

_I can feel you in my head._ I smiled, even though I had no idea how well she could see me with the disorienting pain she was fighting off.

"I'm a mind reader, but I guess you could have guessed that already," I said, talking softly but slightly louder than I had been. She gave a small smile a second later, her response time decreasing even more as I continued to talk to her. I went into her mind, and she "spoke" again.

_I have a shield that tells me when someone is trying to use a power on me, and blocks most powers from affecting me._

It took her a little longer to say all of this, like she was trying to find the right words, but I understood what she meant. I was amazed at the power she was explaining to me, and it gave me an explanation for the blackness I saw when I first tried to read her mind. She had to take down her shield to let me in. She started thinking words again to gain my attention before she started her next message.

_I can hear you thinking when you are in my mind, and I can cover anyone around me with my shield if I want._

She thought this even faster, like she was desperate to keep me talking to her. I nodded, my amazement growing as she continued to tell me about her power.

_So, you can hear me?_ I thought, and she twitched/nodded. Her body was still feeling the pain it should have from her head, but she seemed to have mentally blocked it out. I could see the pain in the way she sat and her face would flinch every now and then, but I couldn't hear anything in her head about how much pain she was in.

_I put my shield between my mind and my body, but I was only able to do it once you started talking to me_, she explained. _ Those other vampires kept trying to touch me, and the pain made me forget what was going on. You let me gather my thoughts and gave me something to focus on when you spoke and asked questions._

I smiled in satisfaction, but it quickly faded when I saw her eyes start to droop. The pain was becoming more evident on her face, and I started to feel it in her mind. It was taking too much effort to keep communicating with me and battling the dizziness she was feeling.

_We have set up rooms here for the sick. I can take you to one so you can rest, if you want_, I thought to her. She thought about it, assessing her own condition before nodding slightly, the pain increasing dramatically as she moved her head.

Her hands shot up to either side of her head as she clutched it in pain, holding back a whimper and gasping. I approached her slowly, letting her feel my proximity so it wouldn't come as a surprise, and put a hand on her shoulder. Her hand clutched mine, bringing it from her shoulder to her head. I sensed her focusing on my touch instead of the pain, and felt her awareness of it lessening slowly.

I slowly slipped my arm under her knees to pick her up, and she let go of my hand, one kind of contact for another. I wrapped my newly freed arm around her back and slowly picked her up, feeling her pain try to increase with the movement. She buried her face in the crook of my neck and wrapped one arm around it, trying to get as much contact as possible so she had something else to focus on.

I quickly brought her down to where the sick rooms were, and put her in the first empty room I found. I couldn't move very fast, anything much more than a human pace increasing her dizziness. I gently set her down on the bed, but she clung to my shirt in desperation. I looked into her eyes, seeing her fright, and looked into her mind. I saw the wall for a fraction of a second before she felt me and took it down.

_No! Please . . . don't leave me alone here . . ._ I shook my head slowly and laid down next to her.

"I won't. Not until you tell me to," I whispered. She smiled and snuggled into my chest as I wrapped an arm around her small form, her pain finally fading away, at least for the moment.


	11. Chapter 11

_Day 1_

**BPOV**

So tired . . . Edward's arms . . . carried me . . . bed . . . pulling away . . . _NO! Please . . . don't leave me alone here . . ._ Edward's shirt . . . soft voice . . .

"I won't. Not until you tell me to." . . . Whispered . . . laid down . . . hard chest . . . I smiled . . . his arm around me . . . touch made pain go away . . . my head cleared . . . my thoughts . . . more . . . rational. Swirling thoughts stopped. Memories faded away. There was silence.

I sighed into Edward's shirt. The quiet was nice. I left my shield down to Edward. His thoughts were scarce. He was relaxed, too. His thumb rubbed circles in my side. I didn't know why I was so relaxed with him. It just felt . . . right. I mentally laughed at myself. All I knew was his name, that he was a vampire, and that he could read my mind, and I was laying in his arms like I'd known him for years.

We laid there for a while, my body in the vampire equivalent of a light sleep, before I could feel a question in his mind. At first, it was just a little itch, like he thought of the question, but decided that wasn't the best time. It slowly grew and grew until I could hear it in my head, over and over again.

_What is this?_ he thinks to himself, his thoughts flashing to . . . the same feeling I have. The question of what it is that's between us, allowing us to be so comfortable with each other so soon after we met. It's literally only been about an hour.

_If you find out, feel free to fill me in_, I think to him, keeping my body relaxed as my mind moves at a thankfully normal pace. I feel him twitch in surprise, but he relaxes again just as quickly. _What, not used to someone being in _your_ head?_ Is chest rises and falls under me as he chuckles quietly.

_No, not particularly, but now I know how my family feels_, he answers. I laugh mentally, not willing to wake my body up just yet. His words caught my attention, though, making me think of my own question. He almost immediately sensed it, and I could feel his patience as he waited for me to ask.

_What . . . what do you mean by family, Edward?_ I asked, even my head having trouble with the word. It was something I hadn't thought about in a long time. I only thought of Tasha, John, and I as a clan, three vampires together just for the company of the others, never like a family. That changed between John and Tasha, of course, but that's still how they felt to me. I could literally see his thoughts organizing as I thought about this, inconsequential thoughts floating to the back of his mind and those needed coming forward.

_I am part of a family of seven, the Cullens. We don't like to think of ourselves as a clan or coven, since that's what most human drinkers call their groups. We don't drink from humans, and we don't stay together just for the protection. We actually enjoy the company of the others, for the most part. Carlisle, the doctor trying to find out what's going on with the vampires, is the patriarch. He's like our father. Esme, his wife, is our mother. Emmet, Rose, Jasper, and Alice are my siblings. We may not be blood, or even from the same century, but we are as close as any normal family, right down to sibling squabbles._ His mind slipped to memories, showing me forced trips to the mall, pranks involving various messy substances, and the occasional tender moment where they were just a family being a family, watching movies, playing sports, and all the things I haven't been able to even imagine. The ever-present hole I've had in my chest since I woke up from my change, the hole where my human life used to be, gets slightly bigger as I think about what he's had and what I've missed out on. He saw my thoughts and sadness in my mind and immediately stopped, his regret matching the level of my own emotion.

_I'm sorry . . . I didn't know_, he said, his grip tightening slightly around me. I mentally shook my head, brushing off the apology.

_You couldn't have known_, I thought, staying silent for a few seconds before speaking again when his regret didn't lessen. _It's nice to see someone who tries to enjoy this life. I'm glad you've found people to live through this existence with. It's so much better than the alternative_. I let my mind show him the images of my past, all the running fighting, and running again, showed him my life up to the present, including the encounter with the vampire the day Tasha and John got infected.

He was silent through it all, holding me tighter in some places and mentally, and probably physically, smiling at others. His thumb never once stopped rubbing circles into my back. His arm loosened around me for a moment, losing contact as he shifted slightly, and my thoughts swirled for a moment. My body tensed against him, my hand fisting his shirt, and he immediately stopped moving. We stayed silent for a few moments, but I had another question, one I could feel he knew the answer to.

_What's happening to me?_

His chest rose and fell with a sigh, making me think he didn't want to tell me, but he did anyway. His mind brought up the image of Tasha and John lying on the floor, unable to do anything themselves, and he knew I already knew what was in store for me. He told himself I deserve to know what to expect, and he hoped I would let him be with me through it all, at least until his father finds the cure. His thoughts told me something that I could add to the short list of what I knew about Edward Cullen: when it comes to others, he could be unrealistically optimistic.

_There's . . . an infection, a virus of some kind, attacking vampires_, he started, sounding hesitant even in his thoughts. _We thought it was only in human blood, but now . . . it seems like anything with a beating heart has whatever is affecting us in its system. You showed me your hunt earlier today, and when your friends hunted, and all three of you ended up with a different animal . . . The sickness lasts for exactly seven days, and each day has a new symptom. You've seen them in your friends._ He didn't seem to know what else to say, but I did.

_So . . . Tasha and John . . . they're going to . . ._ I stopped, unable to continue. He sighed again and nodded once.

_Yes, by tonight, most likely, if they moved to the last symptom last night. Carlisle is trying to figure out exactly what it is in the blood that's doing this, but with animal blood affecting us too, it's going to take much longer than he expected. He's already worked through one day trying to figure it out without much success_, he said, every word coated in sympathy. I mentally nodded, not expecting anything else. I could tell as soon as they both collapsed yesterday that there was little hope for them. I didn't know what was going on, and I had no idea what to do for them. Now, we were at the only place with any idea of what is going on, and we just so happen to bring information that blows apart what was thought to be fact.

_Your dizziness started this morning, right?_ he asked hesitantly.

_Yes, I went hunting before we entered the city. It had been almost a month since I hunted, and I didn't know when I'd be able to again once I got them here. I didn't even think about their hunting being the reason for their infection, and now I only have a few more hours until I get worse_, I said, mentally kicking myself for not realizing it. Edward's hand rubbed up and down my back a few times before stopping to rub circles again.

_Don't be so hard on yourself, Bella. The virus hits so fast after a feeding that not many would guess what happened only a few minutes before would cause such an immediate and severe reaction_, he explains, trying to make me feel better. I knew it was ridiculous to feel the way I did, since I had no idea what was going on or why, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that I should have known what would happen if I went hunting. I felt Edward's attention shift away from my mind and slowly woke my body up, listening to the quiet footsteps of someone entering the room.

"Edward, how is she?" a man's voice asked. I tried looking into Edward's head to see who it was, but his ability wasn't focused on me, preventing me from seeing anything through him.

"Carlisle," Edward greeted, letting me know who it was. "Her body is exhausted from trying to fight off the virus earlier to communicate with me, but she seems to be fine as long as she stays in contact with me," he explained, his confusion apparent with his words.

"Oh?" the man, Carlisle, said, sounding intrigued by the new development. I felt Edward nod. "That is . . . strange. I'll have to look into it, see if I can find anything about that in the Volturi's library," he murmured, almost to himself. My eyes fluttered open and he bent down to look at me, calm and curiosity covering his face. "Hello, my name is Carlisle. I'm sure Edward probably told you already, but I am the one trying to figure out what is happening, and I will be taking care of you." Edward cleared his throat and Carlisle grinned. "With Edward's help," he amended, not changing his tone. Edward huffed indignantly, and I got the feeling they were behaving like this for my benefit.

I smiled at Carlisle and attempted to nod, raising my head slightly off Edward's chest, but immediately laid back down on him when a sharp, disorienting pain ripped through my head. My hand fisted Edward's shirt and his arm tensed around me, his free hand resting on the one clutching him. Another hand touched the top of my head, sending me flying across the room against the wall in panic. The full force of the pain and dizziness hit me again, splitting my head in half from the inside out.

Someone approached me, but I was too disoriented to realize who it was. I growled at them to back away, but they didn't, sending a flash of déjà vu through me that was quickly squashed. Whoever it was didn't make a move to touch me, but they didn't move away either. A feeling of safety and calmness flashed through me and I stopped growling, but flinched when I saw something come towards me. The strange, out of place feelings wrapped around me like a blanket, one I couldn't remember getting, but they let me keep calm as the figure in front of me reached out, cool, smooth skin brushing lightly against mine. The dizziness seemed to waver at the touch, and the pain lessened for less than a second, both returning in force as soon as the slight contact was broken.

_Edward._

My hand shot out from its position at my head to grab his, my fingers threading themselves through his so that our palms were facing each other, and I could have cried at the almost instantaneous relief it gave me. As it was, I let my head fall to my knees with a _smack_ that probably would have given a human quite the headache. I sighed into my jeans, letting my other hand fall to the floor. I felt Edward sit next to me, wrapping my arm around myself as he put his around my shoulders. I sagged into him and moved my head to his knee, which he had drawn up to his chest like me. I sighed again as he used his free hand to pet my hair, moving it to my left shoulder when I turned to look at him. He gave me a sad smile, and I was happy at the absence of pity there. He picked me up without a word and set us back on the bed, his father looking at me curiously. He looked at Edward, who didn't look away from me for a moment, and I could only guess that a one-sided conversation was occurring as I looked on. Carlisle gave me a small smile and a nod before walking out of the room, and I looked at Edward with a questioning look on my face.

"He was telling me he saw what I was telling him about earlier, how you seem to react to my touch like none of the other patients have ever reacted towards anything," he explained. "No one could get close to any of them, and yet, with one touch, your symptoms seem to almost disappear. He has no idea what it could be, but he told me I'll probably have to stay with you at all times to see if any of the other symptoms are affected by me the same way." Cue in the guilt.

"You don't have to do that, Edward. I don't want you to do something you don't want to do. You're not here to babysit me," I rambled, lifting my head from his knee and flinching as my head attempted to spin. He gave me another small smile and shook his head.

"I don't mind, Bella. Not at all. Besides, I'd like to get to know the person I have an unexplainable draw to. Wouldn't you?" he asked, making me smile. I inclined my head a little.

"Yes, I would enjoy that very much."


	12. Chapter 12

_Getting to Know You_

**EPOV**

It was early afternoon the day after her infection when Bella's dizziness finally stopped. She refused to let go of me to see if the symptom had passed, forcing me to move to see if she had any reaction, but she finally did when she realized nothing was happening. I told her to take a shower when she couldn't seem to take her eyes off the bathroom door, and left the room to give her some semblance of privacy.

I wandered down to Carlisle's makeshift lab to see his eyes suction-cupped to a microscope, his mouth a thin line with concentration. I leaned against the doorframe and waited for him to turn, not wanting to interrupt his rapid train of thought. I didn't even bother trying to jump in and understand what he was thinking. I was joined a few seconds later by Aro, who stood next to me with his hands clasped in front of him after clapping a hand on my shoulder in understanding. He stayed just as quiet as I was, even more so with the absence of breathing, and we waited for Carlisle. Not a minute later, a loud sigh whistled from Carlisle's mouth and he straightened, slowly turning to look at us.

"Any progress, Carlisle?" Aro asked quietly. Jane's face flashed through his mind for only a fraction of a second, her child-like form entering the last phase of the virus's attack. My mind showed Bella's friends, their bodys already breaking apart when they arrived. By now, they should be almost completely gone, ash drifting away on any small breeze that floats through their room. I stopped my thoughts as soon as Bella's face started appearing and focused on Carlisle again.

"All I know for sure, that I can guarantee is fact, is that whatever this is, it has invaded the blood of anything with a beating heart. I collected blood samples from multiple species of animals in the area, and all of them have the same virus in them. It stays dormant in the human body, going completely unnoticed by human physicians because of the almost nonexistent size of the virus cells. If I were not a vampire, I would not have been able to see it," he said, turning to stare at the sample he had just been examining like he could glare the answers out of it. Aro nodded once and I closed my eyes.

"There is nothing else, Carlisle?" Aro asked, sounding tired. Carlisle ran his hand through his hair, something he picked up from our two hundred-something years travelling together.

"This virus . . . these cells . . . they are like nothing I have seen. It's like a vampire cancer that awakens as soon as we ingest the virus, and then quickly destroys our bodies. The only differences are the amount of time and the fact that there seems to be absolutely nothing we can do to slow it down, let alone stop it. Human cancer can be removed, depending on the circumstances. This . . . there is no way to remove this." He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before opening them again, a dead, defeated look staring at us. "Someone is after us, Aro. This is not something that could have suddenly appeared in the humans and animals. No evolution takes place overnight. Someone is trying to annihilate us, and they are succeeding."

I ran from the room straight back to Bella's, pacing the floor back and forth. I couldn't stop the images of Bella laying splayed out on the floor, the wind ripping her apart piece by piece until nothing was left, her ashes blowing around in the breeze mockingly. Her every movement in the bathroom made an image of her body breaking into dozens of pieces all over the floor erupt in front of my eyes. I had to fight with myself not to rip the door open just to make sure my mind was only making up the images.

She opened the door and gasped when I ran right in front of her and wrapped my hands around her biceps, my eyes raking over her to make sure nothing of what I had imagined was real. When I was satisfied that she was still whole, I sighed loudly and let go, turning around and rubbing the heels of my hands into my eyes. I can feel her eyes on my back as she looks at me, and imagine the look of confusion.

"Edward, what's wrong?" she asked, coming up behind me. I turned around to face her and sighed, running my hand through my hair. "You just talked to your father, didn't you?" she assumed, and I nodded, telling her everything he told me word for word. I watched her face for any kind of reaction, but she gave away nothing. I sighed again when I finished, shaking my head in defeat, and she gave me a sad smile. I quirked an eyebrow at her and the smile grew.

"Edward, if you are looking for sadness, you are not going to find it. I've watched my friends deteriorate right before my eyes, so I know exactly what to expect. This little . . . whatever it is between us that lessens my symptoms changes things, but not enough to make me doubt my near future. I know that if something is not done, I am going to die. I've come to accept that, and I plan to live the next two days as much as I can before I cannot anymore. I don't want you or Carlisle to give up trying to figure this out, but I am okay with my fate it is for me to die. I've lived for almost one hundred years and have seen most of the world. I'm happy with the way I've lived. I have no regrets," she said, the smile still on her face and honesty radiating from her body.

I stood there for a few seconds and just looked at her, unable to understand how she was so willing to just let everything go and accept that her fate is to die. She must have seen it on my face and shook her head.

"I can't just sit here and mope about something I can't control, Edward." I relented and nodded once, giving her a small smile. Her face flinched slightly and she put her hand to her chest. I rested my hand on her shoulder as a cough racked her body, venom flying from her mouth. Her hand moved to cover her mouth and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders to steady her. The fit ended quickly and she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

"I guess I've entered phase two, huh?" she asked rhetorically. She sighed and leaned into my side and looked up at me. "I'm going for a walk in the garden. Want to join me?" I nodded and stood her back on her feet, still awed at her lack of concern for what was happening to her.

We walked slowly out of the room, Bella walking by herself with me just behind her in case something happened, and walked towards the back of the castle. We took one of the many flights of stairs back up to the main floor, before continuing in the opposite direction of the front door, Bella falling back next to me since she had no idea where she was going. I didn't even know how she knew about the castle garden, or if she just assumed there was one, but I didn't bother asking.

"You said you wanted to get to know me better, so what do you want to know?" Bella asked, causing me to turn to her as we reached the door leading outside. I shrugged.

"I have no idea," I respond, holding the door for her. She goes through with a nod of thanks. "I was thinking that we just tell our stories and ask any questions during or after."

"Very systematic, aren't you?" she asks with a light laugh. I shrug and shake my head as she takes my arm and we start walking at a human pace around the perimeter of the garden.

"Not usually, it just seemed easiest," I say, not sure how to respond. She just laughs again and shakes her head, another small coughing fit hitting her at that moment. She had fought to keep them down on the way up, but this one must have slipped by. She hunched her body like she was in pain, and I draped an arm over her shoulders, the other going in front of her to keep her from falling to the ground. That fit was a little longer than the other, and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand again. She stood back up and wiped her hand on her pants, giving me a weak smile and starting to walk again.

"So, where were we?" she asked, before starting one of the most depressing stories I've ever heard, and I've lived just as long as she had.

She told me about herself from the very beginning, from where she lived as a child, to the attack on her town that led to her change, to finding Tasha and John, right up until the day she showed up in Volterra Castle. I walked next to her, just staring at the side of her face as she looked ahead, and couldn't think of a single thing to say. She turned to me, looking for any kind of response, and just smiled at the astonished look she found there.

"I know it's a crap story, but I really don't want you to say anything. No "I'm sorry," or anything like that. I don't get why people apologize in situations like that. They didn't do anything," she rambled. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Well, then I'll say this. At least I'm not the only one with a crap life," I said, making her smile.

"That's better," Bella said, laughing lightly. We walked for a few seconds before I sighed.

I told her about my life before my change, how I wasn't exactly living in the lap of luxury, but we weren't too bad off either. I told her about my parents and my relationship with them. I had my rebellious teenage years, but nothing like the teens of today. I was still respectful of them, but I knew what I wanted and what I didn't, and took certain measures to make sure they knew. They didn't really care either way, but I still did it. I told her about the spread of the Spanish influenza in the early 1800's, the spread almost no one really knew about for some reason, how, every day, new stories of the sickness were getting closer and closer to home. It didn't take long before it barged through the door and killed my father in less than two weeks. I mentioned the doctor that would stop in to see my father at home every day and do what he could to keep him comfortable, the same doctor that told my mother that she shouldn't spend so much time around my father or she could get the sickness, as well. He was the same doctor that pronounced my father dead, and started taking care of my mother when she fell ill a few days before he died. The same doctor that took care of me when I got the flu a few days after my mother. The same doctor that my mother pleaded with to save me, by any means necessary. The same doctor that told me my mother had died, and what she had asked of him. The same doctor that had fulfilled my mother's wish.

The same doctor that changed me into a vampire, and took me in as his companion.

The same doctor that was now trying to save the entire vampire race on his own.

She stopped and looked at me, her eyes wide in shock. I smiled and took a step.

"I'm not done just yet," I said, and she blanched. She tried to say something, but another small cough erupted from her chest. I waited for it to end and she walked up next to me, taking my arm and leaning into me for support. I moved my arm so it was around her waist and I could hold more of her weight and still let her walk and looked down at her, giving her a look asking if it was okay. She just smiled and wrapped her arm around my waist, leaning into me even more. I could see her strength waning, something I never thought I would say about a vampire, and steered her over to a nearby stone bench. She sat down, leaving her arm where it was, and I did the same.

She sighed softly, contently, and I continued my story, telling her about each of my family members and how they came to be with Carlisle and I. Esme being saved from death by Carlisle, Rose and her husband's attack, Emmett and the bear, Alice and her lack of human memory, but the visions that led her to us, Alice finding Jasper through her visions and bringing him back from a life of violence and death, how Jenna was being attacked by a newborn when I found her, and now Adrian would be changed so he could live with Jenna as her mate. I didn't give her too much detail, subconsciously hoping that she would live to hear my family tell her themselves, and she didn't complain. I think she realized what I was doing.

I told her about moving every now and then, starting a new life in a new town so as to not raise suspicion with our lack of aging, how Esme designs and decorates each one differently, like she has a different theme for every house we own. I told her about the call we got from Aro, the reason we were in Volterra, and how I was getting more and more worried about vampires going out and hunting, not knowing about the danger they were in if they did that. Aro said he would have his guards spread the word, but how fast and far could it possibly go?

I looked at Bella just as her eyes drooped and another coughing fit wracked her small form. These fits didn't seem nearly as bad as Jane's, or as frequent, so I guessed it had something to do with me again. I held her as she finished coughing and wiped her mouth, standing and swinging her up into my arms bridal style. She looked like she wanted to protest, but another smaller cough interrupted her. She just sighed and let her head fall against my chest, her eyes falling closed so that her eyelashes brushed against the apple if her cheek. I walked at a normal pace back to the castle still looking down at her and pleading silently that Carlisle would find out what was going on before it's too late. I still had no idea what was going on with Bella and I, but I did know for sure that it was like nothing I've ever experienced in my two hundred plus years on this planet. One thing I also knew?

I didn't want to lose it.


	13. Chapter 13

_Skipping Symptoms_

**BPOV**

Edward carried me to my room as I lay against his chest, my body getting so easily exhausted. I hated feeling so weak. Ninety-something years of being an almost indestructible vampire, and I fall to some petty virus that makes me feel human all over again . . . I tried to keep a brave face for Edward, not letting him see my frustration, and it seemed to be working. All of the stuff I've been telling him was true, I just wasn't as accepting as I had been telling him. He was worrying enough already.

My thoughts wandered to John and Tasha for a moment, my chest constricting at the thought that I never got to say goodbye. I was in no condition yesterday to even think about them, since I was having trouble thinking at all, and now it was past the seven day point. They were gone. My eyes burned with what would have been hot tears as I thought f my friends and everything I watched them suffer through, everything I would be suffering through . . .

_Wait a minute . . ._

"Edward," I said, suddenly picking my head up to look him in the eyes, "I skipped a symptom." He gave me a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, still walking through the halls towards the room.

"I went through the dizziness yesterday, which was the first symptom," I said, and he nodded, "and today, I'm coughing up venom—" Right on cue, another small coughing fit hit me, apparently giving Edward time to see what I was talking about, by the look on his face. The coughs ended and I wiped my mouth before looking at him again, seeing the sadness at the realization.

"You skipped the second . . ." he whispered quietly, and I nodded once.

"I don't know what it means, though. Should we tell Carlisle?" He nodded and started walking faster, getting us downstairs and to the lab in only a few moments. Carlisle was looking at a clipboard when Edward walked in, setting me down on a nearby stool and standing with an arm steadying me as Carlisle watched. I coughed again, this one slightly more aggravated than the others, and Edward stood closer to me so I could lean into his side. The growth of contact seemed to weaken the pressure and I slowly stopped, Edward's hand softly rubbing my back. I sighed and leaned my head into Edward's side and he watched me for a few seconds before looking at Carlisle again.

"Carlisle, Bella thought of something we thought you should know," Edward started. Carlisle nodded for him to continue, leaning his hip on the counter next to him. "She seems to have . . . skipped the second symptom. She went right from dizziness to coughing venom, rather than going to the uncontrollable venom flow Aro described," Edward explained. Carlisle's brow creased in thought and I slowly closed my eyes, feeling the fatigue that had been pushed away by my realization hit me twice as hard. Edward moved his hand so it was pressed against the side of my face, his palm holding my jaw and his thumb caressing my cheek. Carlisle stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking about what Edward told him, before he spoke.

"Well, as I assume you know, this is not good news. The only conclusion that I can come up with at the moment is that your touch is helping alleviate the intensity of the symptoms, but in return, is speeding up the process leading to Bella's . . . until the last stage of the virus. If she were to keep progressing like this, the next stage would be uncontrollable thirst and then—"

"_NO!_" Edward yelled, interrupting Carlisle and scaring me. My eyes popped open and I jumped in surprise, causing Edward to tense and look down at me worriedly. He tried to pull away, but I kept as firm a hold as I could on his shirt. I smiled and shook my head, letting him know everything was fine before closing my eyes again.

"Edward," Carlisle said, drawing Edward's attention back to him, "I know you don't want to hear it, but that is what will happen unless I pull a miracle out of— . . . well, if I can make a miracle happen in less than two days." I felt Edward shake his head, his thumb pausing on my cheek.

"Haven't you found _anything _else, Carlisle? Anything at all?" he pleaded. Carlisle sighed, and I felt his eyes on me.

"I wanted to discuss this with Aro first—" Carlisle started, but was stopped by someone else entering the room. From their footsteps, it sounded like they stopped only a few steps away from Edward.

"Well, here I am," the new arrival said. I assumed it was Aro, but couldn't find it in me to open my eyes. I remembered him briefly from when I first arrived, but my memory was a little fuzzy from the dizziness. I had yet to actually meet him, or anyone else besides Edward and Carlisle. "You may continue, Carlisle," he said, arrogance coating his words. I mentally debated whether or not I even _wanted_ to meet him, and I didn't even know what he looked like.

"I may have . . . found a possible origin for this virus. It does nothing as of yet in trying to find a cure, but it is another step closer." He paused and Edward's body tensed even more, anxiety coursing through him. I raised my hand to cover his, trying to calm him even a little. He pressed his lips to the top of my head in thanks, pausing when he realized what he did, and I squeezed his hand in mine, letting him know it was okay. I dropped my shield and told him in my thoughts, too, just to make sure he understood, and he pressed them to my hair again. Carlisle cleared his throat and Edward straightened, giving his father his full attention.

"It seems that someone—a vampire with a power to control and manipulate cells—could be the only culprit capable of something like this. These virus cells have the look of something created, not something that evolved into what it currently is. I think there is a vampire out there, someone who is vengeful towards his or her newfound race, that has been, coincidentally, given the power to act on those feelings of vengefulness by infecting everything vampires could possibly use as a food source to make sure every single vampire gets infected. It seems slightly far-fetched, but there is no way for us to know that there _isn't_ a vampire out there with that kind of power. And it seems to go hand in hand that the only way to stop this virus would be to have the creator somehow destroy it, or destroy the creator to negate the source." He stopped and let us absorb everything he just told us, and Aro was the first to break the silence.

"So, the only way you can see to stop this is to find the person who started it . . . but do we have any way of doing that?" Aro asked, and I opened my eyes to watch Carlisle's response. He shook his head and glanced at his work station for a moment.

"Not from just what I have been able to collect. We have never even thought of something like this as a power before now. I couldn't even guess as to how I would be able to trace the origin from what I have, or even know what I would need to do so. This virus has been running rampant for who knows how long. You only became aware of it two or three weeks ago. Just finding the _place_ the virus started could take too long," Carlisle explained, his frustration leaking through his careful control as he continued to talk. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed loudly just as a guard stopped outside the door.

"Master, there is something you may want to see in the throne room," he said in a nervous rush. When I looked at Aro, I understood exactly why. He had an air about him that told anyone close by that he was in charge, and you were to only be in his presence if he allowed it. As it was, he narrowed his blood red eyes at the guard for interrupting, making even me nervous that he would deal some kind of punishment to the poor man. Instead he stared at him for a full second before nodding curtly and excusing himself. I looked at Carlisle, who was no happier than I was about Aro's treatment of his . . . _subjects_ . . . but there was something else I wanted to ask Carlisle about.

"Carlisle," I started, my voice having no strength as I started coughing again. It only lasted a few seconds, and I continued. "Will I even have the bloodlust symptom? I've never had it normally, not even in my newborn years." He looked at me curiously, his head tilting to the side slightly.

"Can you elaborate on that, Bella?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Ever since the day I woke up from my change, I've never felt the desire to kill a human. I've always just looked at them as humans, not as a food source. That is how I feel around humans to this day. I had a strong aversion to blood as a human, so do you think that could have passed from my human life into this one?" I watched Carlisle's curiosity grow as I spoke, and he did not seem to know how to respond once I finished. After a few seconds, he cleared his throat and glanced between Edward and I.

"That would be a reasonable explanation for why you never experienced bloodlust, but I cannot tell you for sure what effect it will have on the symptom. You could experience it for the first time because of the virus, nothing could happen, or you could . . . skip that one, too," Carlisle explained, averting his eyes away from us when he mentioned the last possibility. Edward snarled and snapped his teeth together in anger, and I moved my hand from his, where it still rested against my jaw, to his stomach, trying to soothe him. I squeezed his waist at the same time, and it seemed to help, a minute amount of tension leaving his shoulders.

_I could die tomorrow_, I thought to myself, making sure my shield was up so that Edward wouldn't hear.

_That's more than slightly depressing . . ._


	14. Chapter 14

_Welcome and Unwelcome Guests_

**EPOV**

I had taken Bella back to her room after the conversation with Carlisle, and her eyes immediately closed when I lay down next to her. She curled herself into my side and rested her head on my shoulder, one arm on my chest and the other wrapped around her torso. She seemed much more subdued than she had been, which says something about her mood in and of itself, and her shield was back up. I sighed silently as I looked down at her, but was interrupted by a soft thought from the doorway.

_She's really beautiful, Edward,_ Jenna thought to me, a small smile on her face and a confused look on Adrian's as he stood next to her. I waved them in and Jenna sat down on the edge of the bed next to me, Adrian still standing next to her. I mentally felt Bella's shield drop next to me and looked down at her.

_Who is that, Edward?_ she asked, her eyes still closed. I smiled softly to myself before I answered.

"This is Jenna and her mate, Adrian," I introduced, getting the feeling that she was looking through my eyes, that I, once again, was not alone in my head. I looked at the two next to me, and she confirmed my assumption.

_Oh . . . they are part of your family,_ she whispered in amazement. I chuckled softly.

"Yes, they are. Jenna is like my little sister, even though I could be her grandfather at this point, and Adrian only just learned of our nature a few days ago. He and Jenna have been close friends since we moved to Forks, Washington, and started attending high school there," I explained to her, feeling her rapt attention.

_Are you going to change him, then?_ she asked. I nodded, knowing she would feel it.

"After he graduates high school, so we don't have to take him out before he finishes," I responded. Jenna and Adrian gave me questioning looks and I smiled. "She asking me questions about the two of you." They both got that "oh . . ." look and I shook my head. Bella's lashes fluttered against my shirt just as the rest of the family decided to show up. She started in surprise at the number of people looking at her, and looked up at me.

"Apparently the whole family decided to come at once," I said with a shrug. As I looked down at her, I couldn't get over the exhaustion that I saw there. I actually doubted whether the purple bruises under her eyes were from a lack of hunting or fatigue. She didn't seem to know what to say as she looked at the crowd in her room that was my family, so I started introducing everyone.

"This is Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, Esme and Carlisle, and you just met Jenna and Adrian," I said, pointing to each of them in turn, and she inclined her head in acknowledgement. "Everyone, this is Bella." There was a flurry of "hi" and "hello," and Bella jumped again. I turned to her with worry obvious on my face and she gave a small, exhausted smile.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to having so many people around. I've been travelling with three others for thirty years, and there was never more than that," Bella said quietly, her mind going back to John and Tasha. I gave her shoulders a light squeeze and she gave a sad smile in return.

"So . . . what is this about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question and shifting Bella and I until I was sitting with my back against the headboard with her legs over my lap and her head still against my shoulder. She coughed a little as I moved, and immediately wrapped her arms around my waist as soon as she was able. A small cloth appeared before her, dangling from Alice's hand, and she slowly took it to wipe the trickle of venom from the corner of her mouth. Alice stepped back, letting her know to keep it, and I gave Alice a warning glance. Her thought were a whirlwind, and the last thing I wanted was for her to let go and really overwhelm Bella. Esme stepped forward and sat on my other side, smiling happily at the two of us.

"We just wanted to see who it was that has been keeping you so occupied," she said, getting back to my question. "Carlisle has been giving us all the details since the new arrivals showed up." Bella smiled.

"Sorry, things have been slightly more than hectic. I didn't mean to keep him away from you," she said shyly.

"There's no need to feel guilty about it, hun," Jasper said, his southern drawl making its first appearance in a long time. "He used to stay away even before this, and that was just so he could mope about life. Believe me when I say all of us are happier to not see him because he is falling head-over-heels for a girl instead of playing emo." Bella laughed and I growled lightly. I thought she would tense up or pull away when Jasper mentioned my feelings, feelings I guess I hadn't even realized until he mentioned them, but she didn't. I started letting my mind wander over memories of the past three days I've spent with Bella, this weird connection we discovered, our talks about our pasts, and just how comfortable we've become with each other over such a short amount of time. I heard a term slip from Carlisle's mind, like he knew exactly what was going on in my head, but I ignored it. That couldn't be, not for me. Sure, Bella and I were alike, but this was definitely not how I expected to find my soul mate. Not that I ever thought about that to begin with..

"And how would you know what Edward is feeling for me?" she asked, seeming not at all phased by his words. I chuckled and she looked up at me, still keeping her head against me.

"He just so happens to be an empath. You know, those lucky enough to be able to read and manipulate the emotions of others. But apparently he knows more about how I'm feeling than I am," I explained, my voice fading as I finished.

"Are you denying these feelings he says you have?" She asked, moving her head farther back on my shoulder so she could see all of my face. I stayed silent for a few seconds before smirking at her.

"No, I don't think I am," I responded slowly. She gave me the brightest smile I have seen on her face yet and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. Alice and Esme squealed loudly as I wrapped my arms around her small form, not holding her as tightly as I would have. She just seemed so breakable . . .

_I knew this was going to happen!_ Alice's thoughts screamed at me. I glared at her from the corner of my eye, but couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"Woo! Edward's finally found himself a female!" Emmett yelled, throwing his arms up. Bella laughed and I growled again.

"Emmett, knock it off!" I yelled back, and Rosalie smacked the back of his head before giving me a small smile. Bella suddenly pulled back and coughed into the cloth Alice gave her, and I clutched her to my chest. It stopped after a minute and she relaxed against me again. I looked at the faces of my family, and eight resigned looks stared back. They realized what we had, but they also realized the situation surrounding it. That the first girl I actually felt something for could possibly die in a day.

"Have you seen anything else?" I asked Alice, a spark of hope lighting in my chest. I quickly squelched it and continued to look at her. Her eyes unfocused as she searched, bringing me with her as she did so. There were flashes of Bella, happy and healthy, but they quickly morphed into Bella's body half disintegrated, her eyes staring helplessly at someone as her body fell apart with her still conscious. Neither vision was stronger, but only one was what I wanted. Alice pulled out, unable to get anything clear.

"She'll either survive or she won't, which we already know, but it's not something any of us are controlling by our actions. This . . . creator, or whatever you want to call them, is also the decision maker for Bella's future," Alice explained to the others. I sighed, not sure how to feel about the situation, but Bella didn't seem to have any reaction.

_Edward, please bring your family and the girl to the throne room. There is something all of you need to hear . . . and see_, Aro's mind thought to me, and I sighed. I relayed his message and the resigned looks turned to those of confusion and apprehension.

"We should go, then. Wouldn't want to keep him waiting," Carlisle said, and they gathered around Adrian.

"I'll bring Bella up," I said, ignoring her half-hearted protests. Carlisle nodded and they filed out, Jenna and Adrian in the middle of the line. I started getting up, holding Bella close, when she put a hand on my chest to stop me. I looked at her questioningly and she bit her lip, tilting her head so I couldn't see her face.

"Edward . . . before we go up there . . . can you do something for me?" she asked, looking at me through her hair. I shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, anything," I said, and she lifted her head just a little.

"I . . . I was wondering if . . . if you would . . . uhh . . . it's just that . . . I've never . . ." she stuttered, and I chuckled, peaking into her mind to see what she was trying to ask.

_Oh, damn it, just ask him to kiss you!_ she yelled to herself. I froze and she looked up at me, confused for a moment before she realized what happened. She looked like she was about to gush an apology, but I lifted her face and pressed my lips to hers before she got the chance. It only lasted a short second, but it was enough for both of us to gasp as a jolt of electricity flowed between us at the contact. I pulled back and we just stared at each other for a moment before Bella leaned in again, asking without speaking. I gladly complied and met her half way, our lips moving slowly as the small electric flow started up again. It was only a few seconds before Alice's thoughts interrupted, reminding me of what was going on. It took everything I had to pull away from her, especially when she kept moving forward to keep the contact, but a cough finally broke her away from me. I waited until she was done before I started getting up again, and Bella wrapped her arms around my neck.

_Thank you_, she whispered in her mind, and I kissed the side of her head in response.

_Believe me, it was a pleasure_. I ran us up to the throne room and the two Guard members standing outside opened the doors, both of them glancing at Bella and thanking whatever deity that watches over vampires that it's not them. I almost growled, but I could understand their positions. If it were someone I didn't know or care about, I'd be glad it wasn't me, too. I wouldn't wish it on anyone either way, though.

I walked past them and into the room, joining the rest of my family up by the dais the three thrones sat on. I looked around to each of them, seeing the same determination and anxiety reflected on every pale face. I then looked to Aro, Caius and Marcus sitting silently behind him, and he glanced at Bella before settling his gaze on me.

"The Volturi received a message from an anonymous vampire about the virus situation. Apparently an estimated eight hundred vampires have fallen or will fall within the day to this attack, and countless more have been infected," Aro explained. I could hear that there was more, and waited patiently for him to continue, even though I was ready to crawl out of my skin and strangle it out of him.

"And it gets better," he continued, taking his time. _Of course it does . . ._ I thought sarcastically. Bella passed a laugh off as a short cough and I realized I was still half focused on her mind, letting her into my own at the same time. I didn't have time to address that as Aro finally got to the point.

"_The Creator_, as we have come to call him . . . is making an appearance in Volterra to take control of our race." I blanched and Bella tensed, a small gasp escaping her throat. And that wasn't all . . . _again_ . . .

"He will be arriving within the hour."


	15. Chapter 15

_Powers_

**BPOV**

So . . . the man who apparently wanted every single vampire on the planet dead—like, really dead—decided to come to the center of vampire society and kill the leaders . . . _to take over?_ Well, if he wants to rule over no one because he killed them all, that's fine by me. I wasn't going to be around to listen to him when he realized what he did, anyway.

At least he wasn't making us wait very long; it had been a half hour since the meeting in the throne room with Aro and the other two leaders, Caius and Marcus, and Alice said this vampire would arrive in exactly twenty-five minutes.

Edward was currently sitting on the bed back in my room, his knee twitching under me from my place on his lap. I couldn't tell if he was more anxious or angry, but there was definitely a good amount of both swirling around in him. I ran my hand through his hair in an attempt to calm him, but al I got was a small smile. I sighed and shook my head at him.

"You need to calm down, Edward. I know how you feel, but getting this worked up when he isn't even here won't help things. There isn't that much time before things go down here, and you want to waste it sitting here like this?" I said, keeping my hand cupped against his cheek. His knee stopped and he looked at me, his emotions visibly flashing through his mind as I looked into his pitch-black eyes. My eyes probably weren't much better.

"How can I calm down? This guy wants all of us dead for no reason, and he's why you're _dying_! How can I just sit here calmly like he's just another vampire coming to take over the Volturi?" Edward said sarcastically. He seemed to realize his tone and immediately looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Bella . . . I shouldn't have spoken like that to you," he whispered. I just shook my head again.

"Edward, I understand. I'm not all that happy about him coming here either, but I saw Alice's visions in your head. This is the only way I have a chance of surviving. What happens happens, and we'll take it as it comes. We don't have to be happy about it," I said soothingly, brushing my thumb over his cheek as I spoke. He sighed and leaned into my hand, his breath caressing my face.

"Well, I'm definitely not happy about it, but I know you're right." I smiled and kissed his cheek, laughing as he turned his face until our lips met. He gave me a swift kiss, quickly moving before I could respond, and kissed every inch of my face with butterfly-light touches as I laughed, not used to seeing this side of my calm, serious Edward. Well, the Edward I've been seeing for the past couple of days.

Edward finally reached my lips again and gently pressed his to mine, keeping them there so I was able to kiss him back. That feeling of electricity flowing between us was back, and the longer we kissed, the more it lost the . . . spark-y feeling, and flowed more smoothly, like water moving under my skin. It was definitely a strange feeling, but not . . ._unpleasant_.

Edward opened his mouth, his tongue running along my bottom lip, and I gasped. He immediately pulled back, bringing our kisses back down to just lips, but I wasn't having any of that, not if he was willing. I pressed harder against him, my own tongue copying the movements his just made, and he froze for not even a millisecond before he opened. I reigned my own back into my mouth as his made its second appearance, darting after mine. The "smooth water" feeling picked up the pace, like it was a replacement for my heartbeat, going from a calm, trickling brook to a raging river. It felt like the water was trying to force itself out from under my skin, like it wanted out, but had no means of escape. And then . . . it did.

The sound of roaring water suddenly filled my ears, and Edward's gasp told me he heard it, too. We broke apart and I clung to him, glancing around the room for where the sound could be coming from, and he did the same. The "around-the-room" part didn't actually happen, since, as soon as we looked away from each other, the source of the sound was only a good foot or so from our faces.

A stream of water was spiraling around the bed, coming and going nowhere, but still there. The saying about things "coming out of thin air" fit very well here, and when I looked at Edward to see his reaction, all I saw was a look of pure surprise and joy. He looked down at me, his smile about to break his perfect face in half, before looking back at the water like it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Oh, no, it's not," he whispered, holding me a little tighter to him. "No one and nothing will ever kick you out of first place there, but this is definitely number two."

"Edward . . . what _is_ this?" I asked quietly as I turned back to watch the rapidly moving water. Both of us were speaking as though any more sound than we were making would send the swirling cascade crashing down.

"Amazing . . ." he whispered, not elaborating. In any other situation, I would have had some kind of sarcastic, cheeky comment, but not this time. I don't know how much longer we sat there just staring at the swirling water, but eventually, Edward raised his hand in front of one of the liquid columns and fluidly drew his fingers to his palm as a fist. It was a movement resembling that of the water in its smoothness and grace, but my mind locked on the now empty space where the unending flow had just been. My head whipped back to Edward, then to the space, and back to Edward again while I stuttered what was supposed to be the beginning of a word. Edward smiled and chuckled as he watched me almost break my neck, and I glared at him.

"Do you mind telling me what's going on?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest like a child. His smile grew and he shook his head.

"We never got to what my powers are in our short time together—" he paused, sadness marring his beautiful features. I put my hand on the side of his face and used the thumb of my other to smooth away the wrinkles in his brow.

"Are you going to tell me, or are you just going to sit here being sad for someone who isn't even sad for herself?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow in question. He snorted and shook his head again, my hand following the movement as it refused to leave his face.

"As you already know, I can read minds, but only one has ever fully blocked me with no conscious effort. I can only see that one when the owner is kind enough to let me in," he said, placing a small peck on my lips and making me smile before continuing. "I actually have another power, one that everyone else in my family also have, but with a slightly different variation. Jenna, actually, is the only one with the exact same power. We can control the elements—water, earth, wind, and fire—and I specifically control water." He paused, letting me absorb the information he just gave. What felt like minutes passed by before I finally spoke.

"So . . . that," I said, gesturing towards where the water had been, "was _you_?" My skepticism was clear in my voice, even when a rather harsh cough took my words from me for a few moments. I grimaced at the pain the cough caused in my chest, the muscles clenching harder than before, and Edward rubbed my back soothingly until it finished. Thankfully, he acted like it hadn't even happened.

"Actually . . . that _wasn't_ me," he said, looking at me. I raised an eyebrow, but he just kept looking at me, like he was looking _inside_ of me.

"Well, if it wasn't you, then who was it?" I asked, unable to take that look any longer. He continued to look at me, though, but raised his own eyebrow, as if he were asking "_Haven't you figured it out yet?_" And, a few seconds later, I did.

"I . . . I . . .wha- . . . _Me?_" I stuttered, the link appearing in what he said, but my mind still out of the loop. A smile broke out on Edward's face, and he nodded, swooping in to kiss my cheek comfortingly.

"I think so, yes. I had control over my power then, and I would have felt it if it was me." He paused and gave me a funny look. "Did you feel anything Bella?" I stifled a laugh.

"Oh, I felt something, alright," I said, still trying not to laugh. He tried to hold back his own and shook his head, kissing my hair.

"You know that's not what I meant, even though it _is_ nice to know the feelings are mutual," he said, giving me a look that made me turn away, lest I do something I shouldn't . . .

"No, I know. I actually did feel something, though, like water running under my skin. As we kept going, the water moved faster and faster, like it was trying to find a way out, and then it just . . . did," I explained, shrugging my shoulders at the end. I looked at him again. "Is that the feelings you meant?" The huge smile on his face gave me my answer, and the soul-deep kiss was the only other proof I needed. I could feel him fighting an internal battle to break away after a few moments, and he pulled away after a few moments more.

"You, my beautiful Bella, can control water," he said breathlessly. There was such a spark in his eye, I thought they would ignite. I got kissed again, and not a single coherent thought was able to pass through my mind until he broke us apart again.

"You know," I said, trying to regain my unnecessary breath, "that's kind of redundant." He looked at me for not even a second before he let out a booming laugh, shaking the two of us with the force of it. I laughed with him, just getting lost in our happiness, until I suddenly had that feeling again. It was like it reacted to my emotions. Edward felt me tense and looked at me curiously.

"I . . . I feel it again," I said. He immediately knew what I was talking about and gave me a small smile.

"It's new to you right now, that's why it's so reactive. That, and, since we both have this power, emotions shared between the two of us will awaken it. I can feel it too, but I heard my family talking to each other about reactions like this when they first met their significant others. All of our powers were awakened because of some emotional event, not all of them pleasant, and once they met, it was like just getting their powers all over again, except they knew how to control it," he explained, running his fingers through my hair. I nodded once and laid my head against his chest, sighing.

"How do I do it, then? As much as I'd like to kiss you every time I want to use it, it doesn't seem to be the most logical way," I asked, smirking at him. He planted a swift kiss before sitting with his back against the headboard of the bed. He moved me so that, instead of sitting sideways with my legs across his lap, I was sitting in the middle with my back against his chest. His legs were crossed under me, and my legs were stretched out in front of us.

"Okay, for us, it's not nearly as hard as it sounds. None of us need a source to draw the element from, but with something like fire, things can go wrong in an instant. Water is much calmer, and easily molds into whatever you want of it," he explained, putting my hands in his so that the backs of mine were against the palms of his.

"All you have to do is focus on that feeling of the water running inside of you, and visualize it in some form outside of you. When you said the water was looking for some way to get out, some kind of escape, that's what it was waiting for. A command, of some sort, that would let it out." He stopped talking and rested his chin on my shoulder, his gaze on our hands.

He breathed in deeply before letting it out slowly, his breath rushing past my ear and sending a shiver down my spine. I could actually feel the water rushing around Edward's body as he called it to him, rushing to his hands, then mine, and taking form between mine. It started off as just a sphere of water floating between our hands, the liquid constantly moving, but never losing shape. Edward sent a pulse of . . . something . . . power, I guessed, and the sphere slowly changed, narrowing in places and fanning out in others, until a small figure floated in front of me.

A small rose, made completely out of the water Edward was controlling.

"All you need is a little bit of focus. Keep picturing the water looking exactly like it is right now," he said, his heading moving up and down as he talked since his chin was still on my shoulder.

I did as he said, keeping the image of the rose in the front of my mind, and nodded to Edward when I had it right. He slowly moved his hands away from mine until they rested on his knees, and I kept my gaze on the water before me. The form wavered a bit at first, but soon stilled again. I stared down at the rose, a smile slowly breaking over my face in disbelief. I looked at Edward, who was also smiling, and then back at the rose.

He put his hands back on mine, and another burst of power surged from him to me. I watched, fascinated, as the rose slowly turned from water to sparkling ice in a second, glistening like it was made of snowflakes, but completely clear. Edward moved one hand and plucked the flower from the air, bringing it in front of me. I cupped my hands around the bloomed flower, amazed at what I had seen. I turned my head to Edward, still smiling, and let out a small laugh that reflected only a portion of the amazement I was feeling. He caught my lips mid-laugh and kissed me again, effectively silencing me physically and mentally. He pulled away and kissed my forehead just as someone appeared at the door.

It was time.


	16. Chapter 16

_The Creator_

**EPOV**

Jenna stood in the doorway with Adrian, her face determined and her thoughts sad. He gave me a sad smile and quickly cleared his face of the emotion.

_It doesn't seem fair, the two of you finding each other just in time to lose each other_, he thought. _I hope, for the both of you, that this thing works out alright._ I gave him a thankful nod, but couldn't find it in me to speak.

"Aro wants all of us in the hall for when he arrives. Alice says we have only about five minutes before he is at the front door," Jenna said, her head tilted to the side as she looked at us and the ice flower sitting in Bella's hands.

_Did she do that?_ she asked, her face reflecting interest as her mind showed confusion. I nodded once and she smiled, walking in to help Bella up.

She set Bella's rose on the bedside table, assuring her it would still be there later and briefly explaining that it wasn't like normal ice when _we_ made it. She offered Bella her hand and Bella took it, not letting go of me with the other. We stood and walked towards the door, where Adrian swept his arm in front of him to let the two ladies go ahead of him. Jenna kept both Bella's and Adrian's hand as they walked, and Bella kept mine clutched in hers even as I walked behind her just in case something happened. We made it up the steps to the main floor before Bella's energy started waning, and I carried her the rest of the way to the throne room. I assumed discovering her second power drained her, but I wasn't going to bring that up so close to Aro's presence.

We walked into the throne room and up to the dais, giving me déjà vu of the last time I was in here with Bella in my arms. Aro gave the two of us a sad smile, but his thoughts reflected no such emotion. He was focused solely on the loss of two of his best abilities, also known by the rest of us as Jane and Alec. I stopped by Carlisle and set Bella on her feet, keeping my arm around her waist, and hers around mine, so that I was holding most of her weight. I brought my lips to Bella's ear and whispered.

"Don't mention your power here. The last person you want to know about it is Aro, and his brothers are close seconds," I said, so low only Bella could hear me. She moved her head up to let me know she understood, but made it look like a display of affection. I hugged her to me and looked at Carlisle from the corner of my eye, moving one of my hands and making a small drop of water appear before pointing at Bella's back. She nuzzled my neck as she felt the water moving through me, mentally letting me know she knew what I was doing and was going to play along. His face showed no reaction as he turned back, as if giving us a moment.

_She has the same power as yours?_ he asked, looking for clarification. I blinked once, knowing he would see me from his peripheral vision, and stood straight again. He had one more thing to say, the amount of sureness in his voice making me finally believe it, as well. _Soul mates . . ._

"Masters," a guard said, pushing the throne room doors open, "the visitor has arrived. Shall we escort him in?" he asked. Aro nodded once and the guard ran full speed back to the door. I looked down at Bella, sensing her exhaustion but also a great deal of determination, even when a cough stronger than the last wracked her small form. She clutched at her chest and I held her to me, keeping her on her feet until she was done. I looked straight into her eyes and showed her what I was feeling, even happier to see the same emotion staring back at me.

_Love._

I kissed her soundly on the lips once more, not sure of what was going to happen, and moved so I was standing next to Adrian and Bella was in between us. The rest of the family followed my lead, circling around him to create a barrier between him and this mysterious vampire. Bella's arm tightened around my waist, and she wrapped the other around me as well. I tightened my own grip on her, taking even more of her weight until her feet were only lightly touching the ground. She smiled up at me thankfully and I returned it, my head whipping around as the door creaked open.

A tall, slim figure dressed in all black strolled in past the two guards outside, a cloak billowing behind him as he walked. His dark brown hair was short and spiked, his eyes a glowing ruby red. He looked to be in his late twenties, and the arrogance radiating off of him made me think I had somehow become an empath with how easily I could feel and identify the emotion. His black combat-booted feet stopped about ten feet from our circle, and his eyes swept the room, looking at everything and everyone in it. He stalled longest on the brothers on their thrones, Adrian in the middle of a group of vampires, and Bella hanging onto me for dear life. His thoughts revealed nothing but confusion and curiosity at the situation before him.

"So, you are the one who has released this plague into our world," Aro said, all the usual pleasant diplomacy thrown out the window. The vampire smirked.

"And you must be one of the _almighty kings_ of a world that should never have existed," he sneered, glaring at the three brothers. Aro stuttered, completely thrown from the vampire's lack of respect for his position. This just fueled the vampire's fire.

"What is wrong, _sire_? Not used to being disrespected by those you see as less than you?" He scoffed as Aro, Caius, and Marcus stayed silent and disbelieving.

"My name is Gordon, and I assure you, I am not inferior to the likes of you. My virus proves just that. With only a thought, I can poison your only source of survival, and that is exactly what I have done. None of you should exist," he said, glaring at all of us, "and neither should the vampire that did this to me, and I intend to make sure none of you do when I am finished. I was forced to be what I am, and I will make sure no other human has to go through what I did, to become what I am, by making sure there is no one left to do it," he finished, baring his teeth at Aro. Not a single thought ran through any of the minds in the room except for his, until my own broke the silence.

_You've got to be _kidding _me . . ._

To my—and everyone else's—surprise, Bella was the one to actually break the silence. She tried to step away from me, to go to the front of the group and confront _Gordon_, but her knees gave out as soon as I loosened my grip. I tightened my grip again and basically carried her to the front of the group. I set her down on her feet and kept my arm around her as she let go with one to aid her in punctuating the upcoming argument.

"How were you changed?" she asked quietly, the anger not well hidden in her voice. He looked at her small form clutching mine and smiled.

"Ahh, one of my victims. How did I do?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Bella's entire body coiled like she would spring if she knew she had the energy to do anything, but all she did was glare.

"How did you do?" she repeated. "_How did you do?_ At _what_? Killing people who don't deserve to die? Wonderfully! It's a complete success in that area! I'll be the next, as early as tomorrow! _Why don't you stick around and WATCH?_" she screamed, and he raised an eyebrow at her. His thoughts spoke of a respect for her spirit, but nothing like regret for her impending death. I suppressed a growl, swallowing it down before I started anything I shouldn't.

"You think you are innocent, do you? You think you are nothing like the monster that seduced me before taking away the only life I ever knew? You think you are nothing like them?" he said gesturing to the three still staring at him from their thrones. "You do not see yourself as superior to humans, use them to keep yourself alive like they are worth nothing?" He finally stopped and let Bella respond, not that it looked like she was going to wait much longer, anyway.

"You think you are the only one that was forced into this life? I watched my entire village be murdered before my eyes as a vampire unleashed a newborn on us. My whole family died before my eyes, and then he came for me! He couldn't finish, and left me there to die, or so he thought. Oh, I died, alright, but not the way he thought I would! I didn't ask for this! Most of the vampires out there didn't ask for what happened to them! Why do you think you're so special as to be the only one that didn't have a choice in the matter? None of us standing in this circle _chose_ to be a vampire! For us, it was either death, or living forever and getting the chance to get back at the ones who thought we were nothing. Some of them wanted to be vampires just for the strength and power it gave them, and those are the ones you should be angry at! We were those innocent people that were attacked and left with an ultimatum! Die and be gone forever, or die and live forever. You are just as guilty as those out there right now killing people just because. You have your reasons, and they have theirs, but it ends just the same," Bella finished, slumping against me in complete exhaustion. I caught her and raised her into my arms, her head falling against my chest, but her eyes still focused on Gordon.

"You are not nearly as innocent as you seem to think you are," she said, before she fell silent and still in my arms, but he wasn't finished yet.

"You speak of a lack of choice, and yet, I see a human in you ranks. I do not predict a lack of choice in his decision. How innocent is he?" he said, his arrogance leaking out of his mouth as he imagined what we would say, how _the human_ wished to be stronger, faster, more powerful than he could ever be as a human. I scoffed, shushing Bella when she began to speak.

_I'll take it from here, love. You need to rest for now._ She looked up at me for less than a second before she relaxed and closed her eyes. My head whipped from my love to the current bane of my existence.

"He wishes to ease the pain of a lonely existence for someone he loves. Tell me, _oh mighty one_, where the error in that kind of decision is? He leaves nothing behind, and gains everything he never had. Is that so wrong?" I bit out, trying not to snarl at him. It didn't work very well, the sound finishing off my sentence for me.

Bella let out a gut-wrenching cough as I walked back to my spot in the circle, keeping her close to my chest as she continued coughing. Venom spewed from her mouth, as well as the small amount of blood left in her system. She had so little, I only smelled it once. She finally stopped after a minute or two, and I kissed the side of her head, clenching my eyes shut. Adrian was right. It wasn't fair. I straightened and shook the emotion from my body, balling it up and locking it away in my mind.

"There is nothing wrong with love. Dying and becoming an abomination for love? Ridiculous. Besides, if any of you were to try to change him now, you would just get my little virus from his blood, and anything he killed once he awoke would infect him," the vampire said smugly. I let out another growl, and Carlisle waved his hand behind him, signaling me to stop. I couldn't completely, the anger boiling in my chest and emitting a low rumbling. It was the best I could do to silence myself in that situation.

"You can call back your virus and let us live the way we have been, instead of acting as God for the vampire society," Carlisle said calmly, a threat only barely hidden in his words. Gordon seemed to recognize it too, and a sly smile appeared on his face. My rumbling got a little louder, and Bella put a hand on my chest. She made no other movement, her body still except for the labored breathing coming from her slightly open mouth and the hand clenching the fabric over her chest.

"I think you know that is not going to happen, so what do you plan to do now?" he asked, arrogance leaking from his mouth like venom once again. If we stuck him in a tube and he kept talking like that, he'd probably drown in it if he had to breathe. Carlisle gave him a feral smirk, something I hadn't seen on my father's face in ages.

"We will take matters into our own hands, starting with your death."


	17. Chapter 17

_Life or Death_

**BPOV**

Carlisle's tone surprised me, causing me to open my eyes and look at the back of his head in shock. I looked up at Edward, his face resigned to the decision made, but determination shining from his eyes. I looked around to the others that I could see, and every single face had the same emotions as Edward's.

"Are you really sure you want to do that?" Gordon asked, the sly smile still comfortable on his face. He turned so he was half facing away from us, and turned his head towards the brothers. He pointed at Aro, and a burst of energy left his finger, hitting Aro square in the chest before he could even think to evade it.

"He engorged himself the last time he fed, before I was able to spread my virus globally. So much is still left within him, I was just able to manipulate the blood from within him to give him the virus," he bragged, chuckling at Aro's gasp as he fell to the floor clutching his head. "And that's not all," he continued, his finger still pointed at Aro. "I can speed up, slow down, and even reverse this illness at will."

I watched in horror as another burst of energy hit Aro, and he groaned loudly on his hands and knees, coughs ripping from his chest as venom flowed from his eyes, nose, and mouth. The blood left in his system quickly joined the venom streams, turning the clear liquid a diluted red. A flash of blood lust appeared in his eyes and he looked at Adrian, but the spasms in his chest kept him on the floor. Gordon slowed down the process just as flecks of ash started flying from Aro's body, making him feel his body fall apart around him. He paused the process just as one of Aro's arms was about to fall, a smile on his face as he turned back to us and spoke over Aro's continuous coughing.

"Do you really want to do something you will regret?" Gordon asked, tilting his head towards Carlisle. Carlisle kept the feral smile on his face as he answered, sending a chill down my spine.

"We die either way, so what does it matter if it is now or later? Plus, we like a good fight when it is needed, not that this will be even close to fair," he said slowly, his voice low and menacing.

_Edward, give Bella to me_, Adrian thought to Edward. I had kept my shield open to him the entire time, and he kept his mind partially on me, allowing me to hear anything he did. _I can see where this is going, and I might be able to protect her if he tries to mess with her stage of the virus. If she stays behind me and he can't hit her with that energy, maybe he won't be able to affect her. He said it does nothing to humans, so it doesn't seem like it could hurt._

I could hear Edward thinking over what Adrian had said, trying to find some way to say no, but when he looked at me, I knew he hadn't found one. I just shrugged. _What do we have to lose?_

He sighed before handing me over, Adrian staggering at first under my weight, but moving us so that we were partially hidden by the dais. He set me down and leaned me up against the side, kneeling in front of me, but looking in the direction of the others. I started sagging to the side, fighting to keep myself up and losing, and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He gently lowered me to the ground and crouched next to me, holding one of my hands in both of his as he watched the events before him. I had to admit, he was a very sweet boy for the situation he found himself in, loving a vampire just as a virus threatened her undead life. He seemed willing to help in any way he could, even if it threatened his own life. I mentally shook myself and focused on Edward's mind, watching through his eyes as Gordon sized up the eight vampires before him. I didn't know what he thought he would be able to do against them, and, according to Edward's ability, neither did he. He did, though, think he had a very good shot at surviving the encounter to continue on with his plans.

Like I said. Stupid. Edward's mental laugh told me he agreed.

Gordon was still struggling to think of a plan, constantly looking over where Adrian was crouched, but unable to see me. He knew I was there, he knew I would make a good weapon against the Cullens, but he had no idea how he would get to me without them getting to him first. I sighed and looked at my hand, still clutched tightly in Adrian's, and gasped, a dry sob ripping itself from my chest. Little particles of ash floated in the air around our hands, and when I looked at the rest of me, I found the same thing. All of my exposed flesh was no longer the pure white it had been not moments before, the color replaced by a sickly gray hue. Adrian heard me and his head whipped around, his hands gently putting mine down like I was about to fall apart at any moment. I heard a feral snarl and knew Edward was seeing what I was, and he was upset; anger and despair were battling for control inside him, neither able to beat out the other. He felt the others looking at him and looked towards where I was, all of them instantly understanding the source of his pain. His fingernails were biting into his palms as he clenched his hands into fists, and he was fighting not to launch himself at Gordon, who noticed Edward and smiled.

"I see she's moved on, huh? I have to say, your soul mate bond with her brought about something I never predicted. You were able to alleviate her symptoms, but then she skipped them, effectively speeding up the entire process without my power," he said, confusing Edward with his knowledge. Gordon noticed that, as well, and sneered. "I can sense any change in my virus, no matter where in the world it is happening. It was easy enough to track it when it first spread too, infecting entire towns and cities as I travelled, but that's not the point. I know she's just reached the last stage, and I also know that, because of the havoc your bond has already caused on the virus, she will be dust in the wind in about . . . two hours. Don't know why, don't really care, and don't plan to stop it, so what are _you_ going to do?" he asked, looking straight at Edward.

_Now, Edward?_ Emmett asked, and he raised his head, apparently in anger, but actually signaling Emmett and the others that whatever plan they had was to be put into action. I couldn't remember them making a plan, but I hadn't been in the best of shape to be keeping track of something like that.

I watched through Edward's red-tinted vision as vines shot through the tiled floor, wrapping around Gordon's legs. He swiped at one, tearing it with some difficulty, and three more sprouted, going up to his waist and around his shoulders to confine his arms. Emmett and Rosalie raised their hands in front of them, palms down, and the floor actually surrounded his feet, trapping him at the ankles. He stared at them in shock, but fury quickly took over as he tried desperately to swipe at the vines trapping him. Carlisle raised his hand, his palm facing Gordon, and he suddenly moved much slower, like Carlisle made the air more dense, making it harder for him to struggle.

Edward was still growling, a snarl escaping every now and then, and stepped forward, his hand slightly away from him, but still at his side. I could feel him focusing water into his hand, a flash of a sword running through his mind as the liquid took that form, freezing instantly to form a sharp blade. A flash of doubt ran through my mind as I thought about him trying to use that as a weapon, but he quickly assured me that it could do the job.

_What about you, Bella?_ he asked, and I pulled out of his mind to look at myself. It was already worse than it had been, a cloud of ash hovering over me. A flash of despair went through me, mirrored by Edward, but I assured him that I was still whole. If I thought his vision had been red before, it was nothing compared to what it was now.

He stepped forward slowly, menacingly, and Gordon visibly tried to flinch away. I couldn't blame him. I would have reacted the same way. He looked to Alice and Jasper, and they nodded, their faces darker than I had ever seen them as they flanked Edward. The two of them did some sort of sliding clap thing with their hands, igniting decent-sized flames in their palms. They walked ahead of Edward, dropping flames in a circle around Gordon on the floor. The dancing flames flared up to his waist, not touching him, but threatening enough in their presence. When Edward looked at his face, he saw that the vampire was finally feeling the fear he should have had since the beginning. Anger quickly followed, but he could no longer move to express it.

"What do you plan to do after you kill me? How do you plan to find out how to save your mate or your ruler? Once they get to that last stage, there is only one way to save them from death," Gordon said, smiling smugly, but the fear had not completely disappeared from his eyes. The sad thing was that his desperation led to him thinking of what we did not know, effectively taking away his only bargaining chip.

Edward smiled, raising his arm until it was perpendicular to his body, the ice sword an extension of his arm. He walked forward, his arm staying where it was, until he was standing in the line of fire. The flames licked at his clothes and skin, but left not a single mark to show its path. Gordon tried to jump back away from Edward, but the vines and condensed air continued to hold him where he stood.

"You have nothing now, _Gordon_. Your thoughts just gave me everything we needed," Edward sneered, watching confusion wash over the other vampire. He quickly realized what Edward's statement meant, and Edward took no time to validate his thoughts. He leaned forward until his face was right next to Gordon's, but not touching, and whispered in his ear.

"I can read your mind, Gordon. Nothing you think is a secret from me," he said menacingly, sounding nothing like the Edward I knew form the past few days. I could sense him apologizing for what I was hearing and seeing, but he hid it from the vampire in front of him. Edward stepped back and only waited for a second before swinging his arm in front of his chest, drawing his mind out of mine so I couldn't see what actually happened. I heard a thump from where I was laying and a sickening smell coming from the direction of the fire, both letting me know the situation was handled.

I sighed and closed my eyes, not wanting to see how much more ash had gathered above and around me, and unable to keep them open any longer anyway. I could feel Adrian move next to me, but didn't look to see what he was doing. I sensed Edward approaching and a small smile appeared on my face, but I couldn't open my eyes again. His hand fluttered over my face, wanting to touch, but unwilling to take the risk of harming my now even more fragile body.

"Bella," he whispered frantically, his face apparently above mine from the shadow that took the light from above my eyes. "Bella, we're going to help you. Carlisle is checking Adrian's blood now, to see if it's safe, and Emmett went for an animal. We're going to get you the blood you need to get through this, Bella. Don't give up yet." His fingers ghosted over my face, from my temple to my lips, and I could hear the emotion in his voice. "Don't leave me alone again."

I could have cried at the sadness and mounting despair coating his words, each one seeming heavier than the last. I wanted to open my eyes and give him a reassuring smile. I wanted to move my hand to his face, to let him know I wasn't giving up just yet. I wanted to wrap my arms around him, comfort him. I wanted to let him know that I was fighting, listening to what was going on, trying to stay as alert of my surroundings as I could without my sight. I wanted to open my mouth and let him know I would never willingly leave him, that he would never be alone again as long as I was still living.

Two pairs of footsteps approached from across the room, and I could smell fresh blood. One pair stopped a few feet away, and another from closer to me joined it. The other approached until the owner was standing right next to me, and they bent down.

"Bella," Carlisle said from next to me, "I have a syringe of human blood here that I want you to try to drink, at least until Emmett gets back. It is my hope that this will give you enough energy to be able to drink from whatever he brings, but I cannot say how fast it will work. Alice has assured us that it will, and we never bet against Alice, but I just want you to be aware of everything we know," he said, trying to ease some of the tension threatening to throttle us. He received forced chuckles from one or two of the other Cullens, but that was all.

There was silence for a moment, Edward's hand trying to touch mine, but pulling back before he made solid contact, when something fell on my bottom lip. He kept whispering to me the whole time, telling me that everything would be fine, that I would be able to hear his family's stories of their lives for myself, how we would be able to spend time together without fear of one of us dying, and of how I would finally have the family I hadn't had since I was human. I felt the drop of blood roll towards my mouth and fall between my lips, slowly seeping between them and coating my flesh in its scarlet color. As soon as the drop disappeared, another was released to follow the tracks of the first. This one moved faster, flowing straight into my mouth and onto my tongue. Yet another fell, followed quickly by more until a steady stream was seeping between my lips and down my throat. I had never lasted human blood in all the years I had been a vampire, not having bloodlust like a normal newborn, and this blood was no more appetizing to me than the animal blood I was used to.

"Carlisle," Edward's haunted voice said from my other side, "why isn't she reacting to the blood?" There was no answer, so I guessed he was thinking his response instead of speaking it. Edward kept his ability away from my mind, so I had no idea what he was hearing, even with my shield still open to him, but he gently took my hand into his. There was silence, and then Edward spoke.

"She feels just like she should. Her skin doesn't seem to be flaking off like it just was, but she's still so gray," he said, apparently responding to unspoken questions. Carlisle kept shooting blood from his syringe into my mouth, and I kept feeling it trickle down to my stomach, but it took quite a bit of the blood before I was able to swallow it myself. Edward almost shouted at my movement, but quickly realized Carlisle had seen it too. I kept swallowing as fast as I could, still unable to do more than that small motion, and Emmett ran into the room not five seconds later.

"This was the closest thing I could find without having humans staring at me as I came back with it. They stared at me for having a deer over my shoulder as it was," he complained, apparently feeling the quickly elevating mood. "I see Sleeping Beauty is finally returning to the world of the living." Edward growled, warning him that it was still a little too soon for jokes, and Emmett complied.

I felt the blood spreading through my body, and moved my hand in Edward's. It was more of a twitch, but it made him happy all the same. I opened my mouth, allowing Carlisle to increase the flow of blood, and opened my eyes to see Edward looking down at me. A smile broke out on his face as soon as he saw me look at him, and he ran a hand over my hair.

"Hello, beautiful," he whispered. Carlisle moved the syringe away from my mouth, putting it to the side. I guessed it was empty. I smiled tiredly at Edward, waiting for the blood to finally give me back my strength. He caressed the side of my face, his smile of relief so big, I thought the bottom half of his face would break off. I brought my free hand up to the side of his face, cupping his jaw in my palm.

"Hello, my love."


	18. Chapter 18

_Epilogue_

_Happily Ever After_

**EPOV**

"He should be waking up soon," Carlisle said, looking down at Adrian's changing body.

"Only about three more minutes," Alice added, twirling around the room in happiness. Jenna was sitting next to Adrian's now still body, her mind only focused on his rapidly beating heart.

It was four days after his high school graduation—and ours—and he basically demanded to be changed the day after the celebration. We moved to Alaska that night, Alice seeing his persistence and allowing us to pack so we could start the journey from the school parking lot. Thankfully, we were quite a distance from the Denali's and had told them of our desire to be left alone while we dealt with the upcoming newborn, to which they agreed, forcing Carlisle to promise a visit as soon as it was safe for Adrian to venture away from our isolated home. Carlisle being Carlisle, he agreed without question, even if the rest of us—save Esme, of course—protested greatly. Bella had yet to meet our sister coven, the move only being eight months after the incident in Volterra.

It took one whole month for her to completely heal from the severe damage done to her body from the virus that had only been an hour away from taking her life, and we had been . . . _celebrating_ her survival quite often. Aro, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. Little did we realize, Gordon had sped up his virus again sometime during the encounter, and he was too far gone for even blood to help bring him back. Caius and Marcus had not been entirely grief-stricken by the loss of their brother, agreeing to rule together as equals in Volterra. From their thoughts and Alice's visions, we knew that would be exactly what happened. Just in the past eight months, word had spread from Volterra about the new rule, and many were happy with the changes the two remaining brothers made. The only ones who were not were those unhappy with the thought of rulers over vampires in general, also known as those who wished to do as they pleased without fear of punishment.

Adrian started panting more, his breaths mirroring his ever-increasing heart rate. His eyes were squeezed shut as the venom focused on his heart, and I felt a phantom burning in my own chest as I remembered the pain from my own change. Jenna clutched his hand in both of hers, mumbling soothing words to him as she tried to distract him from the increasing pain. The tension in his face softened slightly, and Bella threaded her arms around mine. I put my arm around her shoulders and she shifted hers to my waist, nuzzling my chest with what sounded almost like a purr. I hadn't realized I moved my hand over my still heart until her hair brushed it, and immediately shifted so it joined the other around her shoulders.

We had grown even closer than before, learning anything and everything about each other as soon as we stepped on the private jet that took us back to Forks. We shared everything, good or bad. Her time as a nomad left an impression on her, making her slightly more . . . wild . . . as the rest of us. Her actions were less human in nature and more like those of a wild animal, but it was one of the quirks I loved about her. When I looked back from where we were now, I realized how stupid I was to doubt Carlisle's assumption about our relationship, the almost instant connection we felt towards the other, and the amazing, if not almost fatal, affect it had on the virus that threatened Bella's immortal life. I was also ignorant to doubt the presence of our souls, for without them, we could not be what we were. She was my other half, my _better_ half, and without her, there was no Edward Cullen.

She was my soul mate, the angel to my demon.

Adrian gasped repeatedly, his eyes shooting open and staring at the ceiling as all the venom collected in his heart and gave its final beat. His body collapsed against the sweat-soaked sheets, the constant _thump-thump_ we had become so accustomed to hearing silenced for eternity. His now crimson eyes fluttered open and scanned the room before settling on Jenna, his body tensed until he saw her next to him. He was still unsure about the rest of us, his eyes darting from one figure to the next, but he kept his hand in Jenna's, taking strength from her touch. Alice stepped forward and he flew back, pinning Jenna between his back and the wall as he hissed at Alice.

"Adrian, baby, it's okay. They're friends, remember? They're your new family," Jenna said softly, slowly resting her hand on Adrian's shoulder. I smiled at him, as did Bella, understanding his desire to protect his mate. What he was feeling was exactly what I felt back in Volterra with Gordon, and the memory was too fresh to forget just yet. Adrian flinched at the unexpected contact, but made no move against Jenna. He thought over her words, letting their meaning past his instincts and into his mind, and he looked at each of us in turn. Recognition quickly flashed across his features as he continued watching us, and his body lost its rigidity. He stood straight, coming out of the feral defensive crouch he had launched himself backwards into when he shot away from Alice's advance, and looked apologetic. Jenna was quick to ease his worries as he reached behind himself to pull her into his side.

"Adrian, it's okay," she repeated, kissing his cheek lovingly. He looked at her sadly before dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Adrian, listen to her. We expected that kind of reaction. Don't take it to heart," Bella said from under my arms. He looked thankfully at her, looking slightly less contrite, and squeezed Jenna to his chest. Bella looked up at me, the silent _Awww_ written all over her face, and I put my hand under her chin, giving her a short but passionate kiss before looking once more at the couple in front of us. Adrian had yet to say anything, but he finally decided to break his silence with a single word before he kissed his immortal love for the first time as her equal.

"Finally."

_The End_

**A/N: Yes, this is the end. I know it's short, but I warned you that I wasn't going to go into great detail about what happens in their future. And, as of right now, this is where their story ends. I don't think I'll be writing a sequel, but we'll see what happens.**

**Now, I've been writing the first chapters of a new story called **_**Wildfire**_**, which, of course, is another EdwardxBella story . . .**

Bella Swan is no ordinary immortal. When Aro discovers her family's powers, he decides to keep them prisoner. When the Cullens make a less than voluntary trip to Volterra, what they find will be something they never could have expected. *Rated M for rape, slavery, and language, so if you are not old enough (or mature enough) to read this, please don't. I will be putting a warning of sexual content at the top of any chapter with it, as well as marking the sexual sections so they can be skipped if desired.*

**I've wanted to write this story for a while now, and I wrote two ten page chapters in one day. This story is flowing so easily (knocks on wood), and I can only hope you will give it a chance and enjoy it like I am. I hope to put the Prologue up tomorrow, so look for it!**

**I can't thank my readers and reviewers enough for taking interest in my stories. I don't think I ever would have written as much as I have on this website without your support. So, even though it doesn't match what I really wish to express to all of you, thank you. And now, for the last time, please review!**

_**~Angels of Twilight**_


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